The very first seminar hosted by the tapmag crew has seen a few sessions already, so it’s time for a short update! Preparing the course has kept us all busy, so please excuse the low frequency of postings at the moment.

Highlights from “Reporting America” so far:

• We had Michael Dobbs of the Washington Post visit the seminar. We are still thankful that he took the time to meet us and shared anecdotes and insights with the seminar. More on his visit will follow, stay tuned.
• The first two workshops turned out great as well. We had an introduction to blogging, wordpress and the like, and recruited about ten new members to the blogosphere. The results from our first writing exercise will also be published soon.

The next few sessions promise to be interesting too:

• Next week the marketing and PR directors of CNN Germany are at the JFKI (see poster above).
• In three weeks time we will have Joerg Wolf from Atlantic Community join the seminar.
• In the following sessions Scot Stevenson of USAerklaert.de, Jerry Gerber from Democrats Abroad Berlin, and Dalila Nadi, an Al-Jazeera reporter, will meet the seminar. For more consult the syllabus (pdf).

If you are interested to attend, stop by at the John-F.-Kennedy-Institue, each wednesday, 4-6 p.m. at room 201. See you soon.

In a collaborative fashion, we want to explore the multi-faceted world of transatlantic journalism, get comfortable writing, and become familiar with the latest Web 2.0-tools. We will invite exciting guests who will help us in our quest. Last but not least, CNN Germany has agreed to cooperate with the seminar. We will publish our results on ireport.com, and CNN will award the best entry.

Here’s the syllabus:

1. Introduction
2. Q&A with Michael Dobbs (Washington Post) on transatlantic Journalism and his career
3. How to set up a blog and make it beautiful
4. Journalism 101
5. CNN, ireport.com & Social Media for Journalists, Guests: Dr. Amelie Heinrichsdorff (Director PR & Corporate Affairs CNN), Joerg Buddenberg (Marketing Manager CNN Germany)
6. Writing for the Enemy, Workshop Session: Exercise in writing from different political viewpoints (e.g. Huffington Post, Foxnation, etc.)
7. Writing for the Net, Guest: Joerg Wolf (Atlantic Review, Atlantic Community)
8. No session
9. Transatlantic Journalim Erklaert, Guest: Scot Stevenson (USAerklaert.wordpress.com)
10. Presentation articles for the CNN ireport contest
11. The other Voice, Guest: Al-Jazzera reporter Dalila Nadi
12. Q&A with Jerry Gerber (Press Secretary Democrats Abroad)
13. Tba
14. Final of the CNN contest, Guest: CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen (requested)
15. Sum-Up & BBQ

This seminar is open to the public, you don’t have to be a student of the Free University to attend. We’re looking forward to seeing you at the JFK-Institute!

One of the younger transatlantic blogs in the German blogosphere is USA Blogger. Since December 2008 the (so far) two-man show is online and offers well-researched articles—one link every three sentences—on American politics and transatlantic culture. In their self-introduction, the two bloggers describe their mission as the attempt to portray the complex and diverse cultural and social reality of the United States as it is today—a goal tapmag wholeheartedly supports.

tapmag: Who’s blogging on USA Blogger? What is your background, are you American, European, or both?

Thomas Furlong: I’m a British bloke who’s been living in Germany for the greater part of my life. I’m currently trying to wrap up my studies – I take American literature/history and African studies at Cologne University – but for the time being I’ve relocated to Berlin where I dabble in online marketing. I’ve been to the US a number of times, lived in upstate New York for a year and have generally always just been intrigued by the States.

Daniel Heise: I’m (just) a German, studying social sciences in Bochum, with an interest in politics and a continuing fascination with the U.S. ever since my exchange year in High School (Charlotte, NC).

Thomas: Oh, and of course we’re always looking for anyone who wants to help out and join the fray.

tapmag:  Which topics do you write about? Who do you write for?

Thomas: For the time being we’ve mostly taken to writing articles about subjects being bandied about in American public debate that haven’t received as much coverage over in Germany. And of course we’re still coming to terms with the new Obama administration. You know, the whole “well I’m glad he won, now where’s that pet unicorn he promised me” thing.

tapmag:  Why are you blogging? Why did you start in the first place?

Thomas: At some point we found we were spending far too much time on the phone having heated discussions about minutiae of American politics, so we thought it might be a nice idea to share our nerdiness with other people. Plus I find it helps me collect my thoughts and is a good way to bookmark articles for later reference. Everyone wins.

tapmag:  Soccer or Football?

Thomas:  Same thing. Love it. Big England and somewhat disgruntled Mönchengladbach supporter. When it comes to what Americans call football on the other hand I only really watch the Superbowl. But that’s a game I never miss. Really I’m more of a basketball guy when it comes to US sports.

Dan: Soccer for me (though just a bit). When it comes to US sports I barely watch or follow any, though I like some football and baseball. Sometimes.

tapmag:  What is your favorite article on USA Blogger? Which one is the most clicked?

Thomas: You know, the problem is that the articles I like most always seem to get read least. I’m pretty happy with my article on the future of the Republican Party (although Bobby Jindal’s crash ‘n’ burn Kenneth the page performance may have impacted his chances for 2012) but the one that gets the most traffic by far is my article on the conspiracy theories surrounding Obama’s birthplace – most of which seems to comprise exactly the kind of nutters I was trying to debunk.

Dan: My favorite would be about the Minnesota recount, written after watching hours of people looking at paper (….members say Aye…..Aye!) and giving me a small reason to having watched that. To protect my sanity, I should have stopped after a couple of minutes, though.

tapmag:  Jesus or Obama?

Thomas: What, they’re not the same person?

Dan: You shouldn’t compare Obama to a convicted felon. I’m going for hope

tapmag:  What question would you have liked to answer? And what would be your answer to it?

Dan:
Q: Is it true that you are omnipotent?
A: No, but thanks for asking.

Thomas: Speak for yourself, man.

tapmag:  Tatort or The Wire?

Thomas: The Wire, hands down.

Dan: The latter is on my to-watch list.

tapmag:  Your favorite blog?

Thomas: I have far too many of the pesky things in my RSS reader, but if I have to pick one, my shout-out for the past year definitely has to go to Numberz Nate at FiveThirtyEight.com.

Dan: Have to agree there, checked it a couple of times each day at high times, which should keep me away from polls until the midterms.

tapmag: Thanks.

You can find all blog posts of this series on transatlantic blogs here.

First Loves in Polaroids on ourfirstloves.com

The site ourfirstloves.com has collected many such stories, from falling in love with spaghetti to memories of first pets. They’re funny, heart-warming, and sure to make you laugh. There’s also someone who shares my first love. His name is Frank and he is 80 years old, but I think I have to visit him someday because he has what I want: an own library.

By Jessica Binsch

In Germany, the organization is named Teach First Germany, and is thus, at least by name, closer to its British equivalent Teach First. But the mission is the same as the US orginial’s: Sending highly motivated candidates with strong academic credentials and active community involvement to poor and disadvantaged communities. There, the “fellows” will teach for two years, trying to engage and motivate the children in their schools who have been left behind by the public educational system.

The idea is based on the peace corps, which is why participants in the US are referred to as “corps members”. In Germany, the less military-sounding “fellow” was chosen. This was not the only change necessary to translate the program to the Germany environment. Kaija Landsberg, the energetic 29-year old founder of Teach First Germany, makes sure to point out that unlike in the US, Teach First participants will not fill regular teacher positions in Germany. They are there as additional support, to organize after-school activities, extra help, parent-teacher meetings and the like. Teaching classes will be a side activity, not the focal point of the engagement.

Participants often have no former teaching experience

The young professionals, while excellent students, will mostly hold degrees not related to teaching. They’ll receive a three-month intensive training before they are placed in the schools. Feedback sessions, mentors and professional development are planned to help them improve their skills throughout the two years.

Still, teacher unions are critical of the approach. They fear that regular jobs will be cut nonetheless and demand that the money spend on Teach First be used to hire recent graduates that went through the official teacher training programs (on a side note, teacher training is more standardized in Germany. You have to have a college degree in education in order to get into the teaching profession).

Who profits from Teach First, asks the teacher’s union

Essentially, the teacher’s union in Berlin brands the program as more of an assessment centre for socially handicapped upper-class kids than an effort to help disadvantaged schools and children. (I’ve written a more extensive report on this subject at Tagesspiegel.de)

Also, it is no easy task ahead of the junior teachers. Corps members of Teach for America blog on teachfor.us about their experience, detailing hardships and joyous moments alike. Stolen computers, constant disruption, more than a year behind the expected reading level – but getting students involved in activities they always rejected and seeing their progress seems to make the downsides worth it.

“Mr. D”, teaching music in the Mississippi delta, tells of participating in a debate contest and writes of his students:

“They were in the zone for the entire 2 hours, scrambling at the end to try to finish. They couldn’t stop talking about it after they handed in their work and one student said “Mr. D!!! My brain hurts after doing that!!” You have no idea how happy it made me to hear that.”

Program to start in three German states in the fall

Apparently, the applicants in Germany hope for similar experiences. I talked to one who said she wanted to be “a cool teacher” – a valid goal considering the German teaching force has a median age of about 50. She also wanted to empower the children, giving them enough knowledge so that they wouldn’t be kicked around by the system.

Teach First Germany moves state-by-state, unlike Teach for America, who targets specific areas. Berlin will be one of the first three German states to employ Teach First participants in the fall, the other two being Hamburg and Northrhine-Westfalia. Unfortunately, there are quite enough schools in the city that’d need some encouragement.

By Jessica Binsch

Head to teachfirst.de for more information and application materials.

But not as an elected officials, at least not literally. Instead, students all over the world have the opportunity to join the Model G8 Youth Summit held in Milan, Italy, March 15- 21, 2009. This simulation, to take place parallel to the G8 meeting in Italy, provides a great chance to get an inside look at the obscure working of the Big Eight, controversial as they may be. During the negotiations, participants will work out an official communiqué that will be handed over to government representatives from the G8 states.

With all the controversy and protest sorrounding the G8, the organizing NGO points out that the purpose of the youth summit is “to make the G8 summit more transparent and (…) introduce a younger generation’s goals, visions, ideas, and ways of solution into the G8 process.” Therefore, this is not a protest camp – but not a group of yes-sayers, either. Instead, an opportunity to learn more about G8, explore the workings and limits of negotiations in that setting, and voice constructive criticism.

All the while participants will get to know students from all over the world and their unique perspectives while staying in beautiful Milan.

The positions to be filled for each country are

• Head of State
• Sherpa
• Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Minister of Economics
• Minister of Finance
• Minister of Development
• Minister of Environment
• Minister of Defence
• Expert: climate change
• Expert: intellectual property rights vs. humanitarian aid
• Expert: Corporate Social Responsibility and financial instituitions: financial sustainability

Additionally to the G8 countries USA, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the UK, Japan, and Russia the so-called O5 Outreach States Brasil, China, Mexico, India, and South Africa will need representation as well as.

To apply, you need to have student status and proper English knowledge (which I guess is presumed if you are reading this blog right now). Send in a resume and the application form to your country’s committee. More info on the application process can be found here for the German delegation, and at g8youthsummit.org for all other countries.

But hurry, the deadline is Thursday, November 20, 2008 for the German team, and is approaching for the other countries’ teams, too. Don’t miss it!

Here’s the trailer.

Moore’s goal four years ago was to convince millions of non-voting “slackers” – mostly between the ages of 18-29 – to give voting a try. Starting out in Elk Rapids, Michigan, in front of an audience of 400, the tour caught on and up to 16,000 slackers each night turned out to see Moore and his entourage of speakers, comedians, and musicians. To further encourage the slackers to show up, Michael Moore offered them a clean change of underwear, Ramen noodles, and a promise that no event would start before noon and no politician would be allowed to speak.

Moore, who has turned the business of documentaries profitable by adding left-wing opinion, a huge dose of sarcasm, and the character Michael Moore into the mix, said that he gives it away for free because of personal reasons. ”I’ve been very blessed and fortunate to have so many people come to my movies over these two decades, I decided why not bypass the studios and the exhibitors and make one that the fans can have for free, as a show of my profound appreciation of their support.”

The film has a budget of over $2 million, and mainly consists of tour footage. Still, that budget is ten times the size of Moore’s first movie “Roger & Me”. He said, the only return he hopes for is the largest turnout of young voters ever at the polls in November. The film is available at slackeruprising.com, Lycos, itunes and amazon. (If you are not accessing the download sites from the US or Canada, you might have to pretend that you are. This article describes how.)

In 2004, the younger generation overwhelmingly voted for John Kerry, with no effect. With the Presidential election in the US this year becoming closer everyday, this time the youth vote could make a substantial difference in the decision for the White House. Maybe that’s why the world premiere of “Slacker Uprising” will take place tomorrow night in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which is one of the hardly contested swing states.