end of an academic week and update

So far this semester is going smoothly and obviously so much better than last semester when I was dealing with the hurricane news, a full-time job and coursework. Since this is my last semester of coursework, I am trying to be a diligent student, and with the 3 classes I am taking, I have to be! Besides Criticism and Theory and a doctoral seminar on Kenneth Burke, I’ve ventured into the Mass Communications department for a course entitled “First Amendment and Society.” The reading is intense but the prof is an expert in communications law and theory, so I’m in good hands. As the only doctoral student in there, I’m required to do a little more so I’m going to try and relate it to my dissertation topic of the rhetoric of truth and responses to Hurricane Katrina, but I’m first going to have to figure out a policy connection to the First Amendment. Other than it being relished, I can’t think of any policies being violated in the sharing of information at that time. Any thoughts?

In a similar vein, there is this connection between blogs and teens’ First Amendment rights, and of course, audience! “Teens’ Bold Blogs Alarm Area Schools: Uninhibited Online Remarks Full of Risks, Officials Warn.”