CMIR and UF

The CMIR is the Center for Media Innovation and Research located in Wiemer the college of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. While I don't spend much time in the CMIR, I know it is a place where students can relax, do homework, and study, when it is not being occupied by a class or research group. There are many "digital labs" that can be used as rooms for groups to get together to study or work on group projects together. Anyone at the University can use the CMIR and I recommend that students check it out at least once during their time at UF.

Some other places that I spend my time in Weimer hall are the radio stations, Gatorvision studio, and the WUFT news room. Here are a few photos of my times at the CJC. At the radio station ESPN 98.1 FM I produce the shows that are live on air. Some of the shows that I produce include Dooley and Collett and Sportscene with Steve Russell.

This is at the sports desk at the WUFT studio down stairs. I would operate the camera for Florida Football with Jim McElwain. I am standing behind the desk where the show is recorded.

This is a photo that I took while operating the control room in the Gatorvision studio. I would shadow professionals to know exactly what it takes to broadcast a live Volleyball game.

Blogroll

This blogroll consists of links to my other classmates blogs. The topics of the blogs are very diverse ranging from anything to sports, food, and beauty tips. I encourage you to check them out because they are such a joy to read!
Will Brenner
Tonia Borsellino
Brooke Burkett
Caitlyn Burnitis
Stephanie Byrne
Alexandra Ciccarone
Lucas Dolengowski
Christian Endrigian
Sean Frazier
Kelly Grosfield
Stefani Hunter
Diana Maglioni
Kady Marlowe
Sydney Martin
Elizabeth McCarthy
Britnee McCoy
Lady Mendoza
Talia Pate
Anna Perlstein
Christopher Platt
Alexandra Puller
Shazquia Ransom
Taryn Renz
Arielle Roth
Amaury Sablon
Brittney Smith
Sidney St. Cyr
Andrea Terrasa
Voleer Thomas
Rachel White
Julia Zaruba

Tipping Point Review

The novel The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell discusses in depth the different sociological changes that make everyday life what it is. The book also breaks down these sociological changes into three different parts. Those parts are the law of the few, The stickiness factor, and the power of context. By breaking the book down into these three parts, the author really is able to get his message across about how sociological changes make everyday life so unique. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a very interesting and inquisitive novel or just someone who enjoys to read and learn something new. By using the example of such as the rise in popularity and sales of Hush Puppies shoes in the mid-1990s and the steep drop in New York City's crime rate after 1990, the author makes it clear that society makes unexpected changes very quickly and rapidly. Referring this book to multimedia reporting shows that reporters must adjust to this rapidly changing society. For example, people are moving away from newspaper as a method of gathering news and are now going to more high tech methods such as the Internet and phone apps. Newspaper writers and readers have had to make this quick change in a short amount of time in order to adapt to the new world of news that has been created. It was very clear that Gladwell did a lot of research when it came to this novel. It's almost made me think of some very complex topics sort of like the time travel paradox like how if an insect that gets killed in the past can completely alter the time period that we live in now. For an example of what a time paradox is I would look at this article that goes into deep detail describing what a time paradox is. It also makes me think of the domino effect like how one thing affects another and that thing affects another and so on and so forth. For more detail about what a domino effect is I would recommend reading this article that goes in depth into detail about what the domino effect really is. Sometimes the ideas were a little repetitive but I do appreciate how he correlated theories to real life ideas and themes.In my own opinion, this not typically a book that I would read in my free time for enjoyment. However, I still found it to be extremely insightful. I do appreciate the words that the author wrote on the pages because it made me think of things that I have never thought of before and think of things in ways I would have never thought of before. I know this book has been criticized as being boring and unentertaining but this book was not created for entertainment. It was created to provide a new viewpoint on how rapidly society is changing. This is one of the best novels I had to read for a class assignment. 

Interesting Blog Posts (Continued)

As I mentioned in my earlier blog post, some of my fellow classmates have some interesting blogs about topics they enjoy. Some other students in my class that have interesting blogs are Lucas, Alex, and Kady. Lucas Dolengowski wrote his blog on sports. Alex Puller wrote her blog on foods she enjoys. Finally, Kady Marlowe wrote her blog on her career as a journalist. I hope you find these just as enjoyable as the first blogs that I talked about.

Interesting Peer Blogs

Some of the other students in my class have written some interesting blogs about things they enjoy. Brittney Smith wrote her blog based off of her life as a mother and a student. Sydney St. Cyr wrote his blog on sports. Lastly, Brooke Burkett wrote her blog on make-up tricks and techniques. I would recommend checking them out because they are just very fun to read and look at. These blogs are very inspirational for what I hope to create with my own blog in the future.

Short Biography

Through out my life I have been involved with many different and unique things. Some of the activities that I have been involved with can be found on my online resume. Something that a lot of people don't know about me is that I used to be a competitive swimmer. However, I did not enjoy swimming. It was something that I was forced to do by my parents and therefore I just did it. That's probably the main reason why I never told anyone. That part of my life is far in my past though, now I dedicate my time to dance and tumbling.

I take dance classes every Tuesday and Wednesday that I can go. I also take tumbling classes on Fridays. Tumbling is like a form of gymnastics. Throughout my life I have also been very involved with the performing arts. I was very involved with theater and performed with Miami Children's theater. Now I am a theater minor at UF and I enjoy it very much. I preach to others the importance of doing what you love. You can come out of a dark place in your life and get the opportunity to do what makes you happy. I am doing that right now and I wouldn't have my life be any other way. I plan on continuing to dance at Independance studio while I am here in Gainesville and I'll find studios wherever life takes me.

Resume

Besides dancing, I have a lot of other interests. I have been very involved with Gator Growl (University of Florida's Pep Rally) since I was a freshman. This year I served as a director. I am also very involved with the ESPN Gainesville station as I work as a producer and a reporter. There are many other things that I am involved with that can be seen on my resume. There might be some things on my resume that you might be surprised about.

Check out Lauren Bromfield's resume on wix!

Partner Dancing-Salsa

While there are a lot of dances that an individual can perform on their own, there are also many partner dances people can enjoy together. One of the many partner dances that I have tried is the Salsa. Salsa is a combination of many Latin and Afro-Caribbean dances. It is usually performed with a male and a female but two females can dance salsa together as well as two males. I like to dance Salsa because it comes from the Hispanic origins. Specifically, salsa comes from different Hispanic countries such as Mexico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. 
Salsa is very popular and can even be seen on TV shows like when Ryan Lochte performed it with his partner on Dancing with the Stars. While dancing Salsa can get very complicated and intricate, it is also a dance for beginners and people that have no dancing experience. There are several tutorials on youtube that can show you the basic steps of Salsa.  While I have no posts on my blog referring to Salsa dancing, I still encourage you to take a look at my blog to see the different types of dance I do have. 

Martha Graham-A Dancing Pioneer

For this blog, I decided to write about a well known dancing pioneer and one of my role models, Martha Graham. Martha Graham is an American dancer, choreographer, and instructor who is considered to be one of the major figures of modern dance. Her style was said to be influenced by Picasso and other modern visual artists. Her style of dance challenged and broke the norms of dancing during the early modern era. Abstract shapes and unique choreography is what made Martha Graham stand out from the rest of the dancers during this era.
Her work was often criticized and referred to as "ugly" but despite the harsh opinions of others Martha still stuck true to her style. I love this about her because she wasn't afraid to be herself and continued to do what she loved despite what people thought about her. My favorite quote by Martha Graham is "Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion." This quote is what inspires me to dance and I hope you can see through my blog just how much I enjoy dancing.

Dancing-Health Benefits

For this blog entry, I decided to take a different route and discuss some of the health benefits dancing provides. One of the many health benefits to dancing is that it is a great workout and it keeps individuals physically fit. Flexibility, muscular endurance, body composition and muscular strength are just some of the many components dancing can improve. Flexibility is a great skill for dancers to have because it makes the moves easier on the body. Muscular endurance is important for dancers to have because it allows the performer to perform the dance full out for long periods of time. Body composition comes with dancers that dance as a form of exercise because of the work out it has on the body. Lastly muscular strength is enhanced for dancers because of the amount of work done on the muscles. 

Another benefit of dancing that many people don't think of is mental health. Studies have shown that dancing improves mental health and makes people more confident. Dancing can be social which in return helps people make friends. It also makes people "feel alive" because they are just able to let everything go through dances moves. It is a healthy way for people to express themselves and enjoy the beat of music. Check out my blog and you'll see why I love to dance. 

Hip Hop Dance Missy Elliot

This is a video of one of the dances that I learned in my Hip Hop dance class. It is a short segment but it has a little bit of everything. In this video there are hip movements, a floor segment, and popping. These three things are very typical things that can be found in a Hip Hop dance. The song the dance is to is by Hip Hop artist Missy Elliot. I'm on the right side of the screen and the three other dancers also regularly attend the dance class.

Don't Make Me Think Review

The novel "Don't Make Me Think" was designed to help people learn and think about ways to make websites more usable and appealing to the users they are trying to appeal to. I would argue, this book is very successful in explaining different concepts that demonstrate how to make websites more beneficial to the user, which in return, will make it more beneficial to the creator. 

One big concept mentioned in the book "Don't Make Me Think" that I highly agree with is the idea of a mindless choice found in chapter four. Basically, the idea argues that a choice that almost requires no thought to answer the question correctly is the preferred option by people. When relating this concept to a website, it means that people will prefer the websites that direct them to the information they are looking for with minimal effort. This is very true considering there are several websites that contain the information people seek. Therefore, people will just resort to the websites that require them to obtain the information they need with as little effort as possible.  

Often, people think it is the number of clicks that determine whether or not a website is effective or not. I personally thought this was the case at first. However, after reading "Don't Make Me Think" my mind has changed and I agree that it’s the amount of effort a person has to make that determines whether or not a website is efficient or not. How hard each click is, is far more important than the amount of clicks a person makes. For example, if a website clearly maps out to its users where they need to click to obtain the information they are looking for, this is more effective than the amount of clicks it takes to get there.  

The author uses the example of him trying to read an article on a website. Before being able to read the article, the he is presented with three options right away. The layout of the options and the way they were presented to him is extremely disorderly and not effective to the point where he does not want to read the article anymore. However, had the website chosen a different approach such as using the approach the NY Times website used, the author more than likely would have continued to pursue the article. All the information being presented to the user at once in the first article is very overwhelming and confusing. In this case, it was more effective that the NY Times website organized the information with links forcing the user to click in order to get the information they need. 

While there were many other topics regarding effective websites in this book, I would argue the point about clicking is the most important. As stated by the author, "Users don't mind a lot of clicks as long as each click is painless and they have continued confidence that they are on the right track." This is something that all people who wish to make websites keep in mind.  

Tutting

A type of dance move that is very popular in the world of Hip-Hop is called Tutting. Tutting is a street dance and one of the original funk styles that came from California during the late 1960s–1970s. Arms and hands are what are mostly used when performing a Tutting dance move. The choreography for the arms and hands are derived from the positions people were drawn in the days of the Ancient Egyptians. Therefore, a Tutting dance move should be very similar to the dance positions found in the Egyptian culture. Hence, why it is called "Tutting".
During one of the Hip-Hop dance classes that I attended, I was taught a short Tutting combination. My legs remained in place, while my arms and hands did all of the moving. I started off in a "base" position with both my arms flat out in front of me and ended with both arms extended out to my side. In the photo below, the positions I performed in this combination started with the photo on the top left and ended with the photo on the bottom right.  

Hip-Hop- Panda

Another style of dance that is taught at IndepenDance studio is Hip-Hop, which is my favorite style of dance. Hip-hop dance refers to street dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. It includes a wide range of styles primarily breaking, locking, and popping which were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in the United States. The reason why Hip-Hop is my favorite style of dance is because it is very fast paced, high energy, it's so much fun, and it hypes up an audience. 
One week I was taught a Hip-Hop dance to the song Panda by Desgiiner. This dance consists of fast hand, arm, and leg movements that match the beat of the music. This particular dance that I learned was copied from a YouTube music video that went viral because of how interesting, complex, and captivating the choreography is. In the photo featured I'm, alongside my fellow dancer and friend Casey, swinging my arms forwards while my body is being thrown backwards. This is a very typical step you will see in a Hip-Hop dance.

Jazz-Light it Up

One of the many styles of dance that I perform is Jazz. This style of dance is very hard to define because it entails many different styles of dance composed into one. The definition for Jazz dance is "an umbrella term that can refer to several related dance styles. All of them are connected via common roots, namely tap, ballet, jazz music, and African-American rhythms and dance." In a typical Jazz dance class I learn basic dance technique such as Passe turns, Russian leaps, and a short choreographed dance combination.
In one of the dance classes that I attended, I was taught a short dance combination to the song Light it Up by Major Lazer. This dance consists of high kicks, turns, and basic dance steps such as a Pas de Bourree. It is a fast paced, high energy dance. Personally, it is one of the funnest dances I have ever been taught. Below is a picture of me doing a high kick from the dance.

Why I Dance

When I am passionate about something I pursue it. A piece of my soul has always told me that dancing is something that I am meant to do. When I'm dancing my heart fells happy and full. Dance is one of the few things in my life that I know will always be there for me. When I am down from all the stress of life, dance relieves me. It really doesn't matter where I am dancing. I can be at my dance class, on stage, at a party, or in my bed room, if I'm dancing I am happy. I will admit right now that I am not the best dancer ever but that doesn't matter to me at all. A quote from one of my idols Martha Graham says, "Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion." This quote inspires me every moment I dance and pushes me to dance with all of my heart. 

For this blog, I decided to post about all of my adventures in dance. I dance with a company called IndepenDance studio here in Gainesville and I attend dance classes there regularly. Most of what I post on this blog will be from my classes at IndepenDance but I'll throw in something a little different every now and then. I hope you enjoy my blog and understand through my posts why dancing is something I can't live without.