These days, protests are not uncommon across the country. When I hear the word "protest," I admit there are stereotypes that pop into my head of what a protest "should" look like and what the protesters "should" be doing and even what they "should" look like (or, at least, dress like).
During my spring 2007 semester at San Jose State University, for an assignment in my information gathering class, my classmates and I attended an on-campus protest. A group of students protested against the proposed tuition increase for the CSU system. There was already some tension in the air, since CSU faculty members had proposed a rolling strike, demanding raises for themselves. The class assignment was to do some reporting and then come back to the classroom to write about the event "on-deadline," turning in the story by a certain time during class.
Some of the protesters were wearing the color red or had red armbands. Some held signs, and there was even an effigy of CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. People took turns expressing their opinions by talking into a microphone on stage. Then, the group marched across campus, chanting (they had handouts with chants written on them) and passing out fliers along the way. They stopped for a few minutes outside of Tower Hall, which is where the president's office is located. They stood outside of the building and chanted. Altogether, there were probably around 30 or 40 people who participated in the march.
That protest was the first one I've ever reported on, even though it was just a class assignment that wouldn't get published. My first protest story that would be published, though, was for the EG Citizen. The protest happened before the last Elk Grove City Council meeting. The issue that evening was about the proposed big box store ordinance. Prior to the meeting, there was a group of people from the Elk Grove Coalition Advocating Proper Planning (EGCAPP), people who support the ordinance. They wore stickers and held signs that had the words, "I support a Turlock-style ordinance...and I vote." On the other hand, people from Wal-Mart and its supporters had stickers with the word "BAN" crossed out, like a No Smoking symbol. If neither side had stickers and signs, then I may not have been able to tell right away which side they belonged to (I may have even mistaken some of them for staff members of the city government). Since the protest began at 5:30 p.m., I had the impression that many people had got off from work not too long ago, which may explain their business casual attire.
Altogether, there were more people who attended this protest (and the council meeting), compared with the participants in the march at SJSU. However, I thought there was more activity taking place at the SJSU protest than the protest outside Elk Grove City Hall (I'm not including what happened during the actual meeting). Overall, though, both protests featured people who felt strongly enough about an issue to express themselves publicly. Although I made my own observations of what happened during both protests, talking one-on-one to participants added a human face to the issues.
During my spring 2007 semester at San Jose State University, for an assignment in my information gathering class, my classmates and I attended an on-campus protest. A group of students protested against the proposed tuition increase for the CSU system. There was already some tension in the air, since CSU faculty members had proposed a rolling strike, demanding raises for themselves. The class assignment was to do some reporting and then come back to the classroom to write about the event "on-deadline," turning in the story by a certain time during class.
Some of the protesters were wearing the color red or had red armbands. Some held signs, and there was even an effigy of CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. People took turns expressing their opinions by talking into a microphone on stage. Then, the group marched across campus, chanting (they had handouts with chants written on them) and passing out fliers along the way. They stopped for a few minutes outside of Tower Hall, which is where the president's office is located. They stood outside of the building and chanted. Altogether, there were probably around 30 or 40 people who participated in the march.
That protest was the first one I've ever reported on, even though it was just a class assignment that wouldn't get published. My first protest story that would be published, though, was for the EG Citizen. The protest happened before the last Elk Grove City Council meeting. The issue that evening was about the proposed big box store ordinance. Prior to the meeting, there was a group of people from the Elk Grove Coalition Advocating Proper Planning (EGCAPP), people who support the ordinance. They wore stickers and held signs that had the words, "I support a Turlock-style ordinance...and I vote." On the other hand, people from Wal-Mart and its supporters had stickers with the word "BAN" crossed out, like a No Smoking symbol. If neither side had stickers and signs, then I may not have been able to tell right away which side they belonged to (I may have even mistaken some of them for staff members of the city government). Since the protest began at 5:30 p.m., I had the impression that many people had got off from work not too long ago, which may explain their business casual attire.
Altogether, there were more people who attended this protest (and the council meeting), compared with the participants in the march at SJSU. However, I thought there was more activity taking place at the SJSU protest than the protest outside Elk Grove City Hall (I'm not including what happened during the actual meeting). Overall, though, both protests featured people who felt strongly enough about an issue to express themselves publicly. Although I made my own observations of what happened during both protests, talking one-on-one to participants added a human face to the issues.
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