So, so, so, so listen up 'cause you can't say nothin'
    “Sabotage”, Beastie Boys, 1994

It’s just rained, as is often the case in mid-afternoon during a South Florida summer. The air is still damp, but not yet sticky as the sun begins to reheat Cypress Bay High School. If you’re not familiar, Cypress Bay is the home of The Circuit, the focus of MTV’s The Paper, a reality show about the lives of the staff members of what is arguably the best student newspaper in the country. With that in mind, it’s pretty intimidating speaking to the cast members of The Paper, knowing that they might just be judging every journalistic move I make.

Dan Surgan, a funny guy both on the show and in person, is my first interviewee. I’ve come to see what the cast thinks about their First Amendment freedoms, and so Dan seems like as good a place as any to start.

“Do young people appreciate their First Amendment freedoms?” I ask innocently.

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In anything if you want to go
From just a beginner to a pro
You need a montage.
Even Rocky had a montage.

          “Montage”, Trey Parker, 2004

“What if we ask a question and somebody says, ‘No, I don’t want to answer that’?” Kortney Smith, a young journalism student asks.

“Give me a question that someone might not want to answer,” replies Prof. Tsitsi D. Wakhisi in a voice dripping wet with honey. She rises from her seat in the classroom, grabs her notepad, and makes her way over to the center of the classroom, among the students. Prof. Wakhisi is the reporter, Kortney the interviewee.

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I don't mind stealing bread
From the mouths of decadents
But I can't feed on the powerless
When my cup's already overfilled.

          “Hunger Strike,” Temple of the Dog, 1991

The mouth-watering smell of homemade vegetable soup permeates from the back seat of the white church van I ride in. The soup was prepared exactly a week ago by volunteers at Saint Augustine Catholic Church in Coral Gables and kept frozen until now to remain fresh. I had asked some volunteers if they ever get requests for different types of soup. They said no. Smelling it I can see why there aren’t any complaints.

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I am the one, camouflage and guns,
Risk my life to keep my people from harm.
Authority vested in me,
I sacrifice with my brothers in arms.

                “Hammerhead”, The Offspring, 2008

Our service men and women protect our freedoms while sacrificing their own comfort. For some, it means returning home to a weak economy. Others might become homeless. That’s why the volunteers of the Veterans Support Organization (VSO) collect money to support our veterans. (SEE VIDEO)

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Rhetoric can't raise the dead.
I'm sick of empty words; let's lead and not follow.

               “The Artist in the Ambulance”,Thrice, 2003

People often die in war or natural disasters because they can’t get to a hospital fast enough. But what if we could bring the hospital to them? (see video)

Faculty and students at the Applied Research Center  at Florida International University  are asking that very question right now. As part of a project for the Western Hemisphere Information Exchange Program (WHIX) , the University is testing existing technologies in the hopes of combining them to create a...

Don’t touch the positive with a negative end

‘Cause after all of the sparks you’re still alone in the dark.

               “Over Thinking”, Relient K, 2003

Florida Power & Light  (FPL) is installing new power lines on Miami Beach  in an effort to create a better environment for residents and businesses. But how does that affect the environment for businesses that are already there? (See video.)

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