Flux Story Ideas: First Saudi Man & Duck to Climb Mount Everest

Farouq Alzouman, a graduate of the UO Class of 2008, is the first Saudi Arabian man and Oregon Duck to climb Mount Everest.  His successful quest rendered him instant celebrity status in Saudi Arabia -- His face now graces bilboards around the country and he makes frequent appearances on Saudi television.

Farouq has also traveled all over the world and is about to release a book and documentary movie.  To read about Farouq's (and his expedition team) adventure, check out this site.

Flux Story Ideas: Another Dance Group/Type

Middle Eastern Dance Guild of Eugene is having a performance in April. This would be another wonderful opportunity to get footage of a performance that will contrast with the other dance group stories that I have mentioned so far (hip-hop, ballet, breakdancing). I will post more info soon!

The upcoming performance looks live an amazing photo opportunity as well!

Amira's Experimental Film

Check out Amira's film here!

FLUX Story Idea: Edu Relief - Jonathan Renich's Story

This story is a great example showing how one young person can leave his/her mark on the world!


2007 KATU News Spot from Edurelief on Vimeo.

From Eugene Weekly's HAPPENING PERSON highlight:

After graduation from Churchill High School, Jonathan Renich studied children’s social services in a modular program at the Kona, Hawaii campus of the University of the Nations. “We spent three months in class, then six months as an intern with a nonprofit,” says Renich, who served one internship with the French agency Pour un Sourire d’Enfant in a training program for kids who worked at the city dump in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. When he finished his degree, Renich stayed on as a staff member and led two groups of students to the town of Baruunburen in Mongolia. Returning to Oregon in 2005, he launched Edurelief, a program to help Mongolian kids who had dropped out of school. “The government had cut support for school supplies,” he notes. “All they needed was $20 per kid for a packet of books.” Renich recruited some UO students, printed fliers, and raised $10,000 in four months. “We sponsored 525 kids,” he says. “When people found out, it exploded. We got calls from New York, LA, Europe, and Asia, asking, ‘What can we do?’” Find out what you can do at edurelief.org


Edurelief 2007 Promo from Edurelief on Vimeo.

Flux Story Ideas: Tai Chi in the Park

Pretty much all the info is in this Craiglist ad. This story would work for the website, and it would be a great video piece [It would also work great with the Street Yoga story.].

WEEK 11: Flux Story Ideas: The Chocolate Man

This story would be a great counterpart to the football-player-turned-gospel-director story (assuming that story makes it into Flux.). JJ Birden (a former Duck football player) is a former-NFL-player-turned-chocolatier! Birden is "now an executive with Team X 88, a company that sells a delicious dark chocolate called Xocai, which has amazing healing and restorative powers." [The quote is from an article published in the Lake Oswego Review.] Birden will be presenting his chocolate products at an upcoming event in Eugene, this Saturday. Check out the Craigslist post below for more info.

HEALTHY CHOCOLATE TASTING EVENT INVITE
(from Craigslist)

A must see event for anyone who loves chocolate!!!
You are invited to a Healthy Chocolate Tasting and Presentation. We are happy to see so many people truly interested in learning more about "the Healthy Chocolate Revolution". You will learn the specifics about chocolate and how it is beneficial to health and well being... Special guest speaker's Kevin Washington former UO Track and Field Athlete will present the origin and history of chocolate, and the development of Xocai, "the Healthy Chocolate." JJ Birden, leader of TeamX88, and former UO Track and Field Athlete who pursued a successful 9 year NFL career as a wide receiver will share his discovery and experience with Xocai Healthy Chocolate. ... Feel free to bring a friend or two! Please call or email if you have any questions.

Free Event, RSVP if possible!
Location: Downtown Athletic Club, 999 Willamette St., Eugene
Time: 7:00 PM, Sat. March 14th.
Contact: 541.844.8600 or visit www.DailyCacao.com

WEEK 10 - Flux Story Ideas: PHENOMENON HIP-HOP

Here's another story idea for FLUX, and this is one is specifically for the website.

Phenomenon is a hip hop dance company in Eugene with dancers ranging in ages from 14 to 24. Gabriella Narvaez and Tori Lee, two of the dancers in the company are also J-School students. There are four other University of Oregon students dancing with the troupe, including a recent graduate as well.

Here's a little tidbit from the company's website about their upcoming performance:

"This year, Phenomenon Dance Company will be producing it's 7th headlining show at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts titled, " The Circus" in May of 2009. This show will be a hip hop and jazz dance oriented tribute to the masterpieces of The Circus, with a Broadway/ Cabaret twist! Multimedia design, theatrical elements, gymnastics, acrobatics, dance, live music, and cutting edge performance and choreography will make this show a spectacular event for all ages!"

Why does this story work for this year's Flux? Our group is working on a story about breakdancing and one about ballet. Throw hip hop into the combination, and not only are we featuring a great range of Oregon artists, but we also a wonderful contrast. All the stories are about dancers -- but all these dancers and their styles couldn't be more different. It would be great for example, if on one of the Flux website's pages, there was a space where a video would feature all these three different types of performers (Hey, perhaps we can even find one or two more). For example, you could have three instructional videos, one under another that would say something along the lines of -- "Click here to learn a breakdancing move from ... And ... Click here to learn a piroutte from Hannah Bontrager ... And ... Click here to learn a freeze from Gabriella."

Another way to go about showcasing the videos on the site would be to have a page dedicated specifically to breakdancing or ballet, and at the bottom of the page there could be a link that says something along the lines of "To see more Oregon artists, click here."

This idea definitely needs to be thought out a bit more, but I definitely think it has great potential!

Check out a video of Phenomenon practicing for their upcoming show:

Here's a list of other hip hop companies in Eugene that might be worth checking out (All these groups will be performing in May with Phenomenon at the Hult Center):

King's Krew
Zapp
Urban Pulse
Urban Vibe (a divison of the Eugene Dance Factory)
Urban Beat (the youth division of Eugene Dance Factory)