Visual Journalism Baltimore

Friday, March 2, 2012

Baltimore City Circuit Court

Last week students visited Baltimore City Circuit Court. We were given a tour of the 10 year old building and then were allowed to sit in on a trial and jury selection. The day was long, and the students made some fantastic observations:

Grant Lindahl

The courthouse

Visiting the Baltimore City Courthouse is a unique experiment. It’s a complicated machine the American Court Systems. When we arrived we had to walk through metal detectors, it was a mistake to wear my steel-toed boots. A confused tour guide greeted us, he wasn’t quite sure why we were here. I thought it was interesting that the marble that our tour guide remarked “ was donated by the Vatican”- so much for separation of church and state. One of my classmates Ian exclaimed “ These murals are really interesting, they must have had really great posture in the 17^th century.” Sitting in on an actual case was long and intense but the drawing opportunity was nonetheless fruitful. At the end of the day we got to have a brief discussion with the court justice and he said” The one problem with the court system in Baltimore is that the Justices are policing and nominating the Justices where it should be an appointment by the people.”

Kayla Bikers

Ian Moore

Rachel Kim

Shadra Strickland

Dingding Hu

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Baltimore City Fire Department

On Friday, Visual Journalism class took a trip to the Third Batallion, Baltimore City Fire Station.

Here are our drawings and reports. It was a great day of drawing.

Engine Company 30, Truck Company 8, Medic 12

3220 Frederick Ave. 21229

Firehouse Interview and paintings by Jessica Jahnle

Firehouse Interview and drawings by Grant Lindahl

Visiting the Baltimore Firehouse was a unique experience. The 100-year-old fully functional building houses two fire engines and one ambulance. The fire fighters work on a shift schedule of four days on call and four days off. While chatting with Firefighter David Rumber I was given inside knowledge about the lives of Baltimore City’s finest. Below is an excerpt from my interview last Friday the 17^th of Feb 2012.

Q: I notice that this engine has a logo of a spiders and a bee is caught in the spider’s web. What is the significance of this logo?

A: Well the engine is number eight and spiders have eight legs. Our rival fire department is the bee so we have it caught in our web.

Q: Why did you become a Firefighter?

A: Well when I started out it was just a job and I was a young kid that needed a job. But I realized that I really like helping people that’s it the bottom line Its all about helping people.

Q: What do you think is one of the most important things that the Baltimore Community needs to improve fire safety?

A: I believe that communication from the governmental offices to the public is lacking. If we can inform the public quickly about local problems it could start a revolution. Right now in Baltimore there is a gap in communication between the government and the community.

Q: So you have a young daughter. What do you tell her to do if there is a fire?

A: She knows a lot about fire safety. I told her that if there was ever a fire stay where you are and I will come get you.

Firehouse Interview and drawings by Ian Moore