More than 150 people attended a sermon on a lawn, before jumping into Lake Cane. Families and swimmers attended the sermon, which was led by Southwest Church Pastor Tom Welch. The families and swimmers attended the sermon at sunrise and after swimming in the lake, there was a breakfast provided by Dr. Lucky Meisenheimer.

This is an annual event that has taken place the last three years. Many who attended were returnees from the previous years, but there were also a lot of first timers. Some swimmers donated money to the oldest swimmer who is 82 years old and suffering from pancreatic cancer.

I thought this was a great article and a really cool way to spend Easter. I have heard of people doing spirtual swims on Easter, but I haven't heard of a group of people attending a sermon beforehand.
 
The Orlando Sentinel also features a blog on their website that discusses religion. It is entitled the The Religion World, which features different religious aspects from all around the Orlando area. There is only one reporter who writes for the blog, but he provides insight for all different religions. There is also a list of religions on the right side of the blog that take you to different religious blogs.

I was surprised to find all the religious related articles that I found on the Orlando Sentinel. The main story on the homepage was of course basketball related, about how the Gators lost to Michigan and did not advance to the Final Four. Overall I was pleasantly surprised with the Orlando Sentinel's coverage of religion and faith.

While searching through the Orlando Sentinel pages, I found a great discovery. The Orlando Sentinel has a separate website dedicated to all things Disney. This was one of the best discoveries I have ever made, since I am a huge fan of Disney and especially Disney theme parks. The Daily Disney informs readers about updates/changes to theme parks, dining experiences, hotel deals, and any Disney related events happening. There are five beat writers that make up the Daily Disney.

Not only does the Daily Disney provide locals and tourists with information, but it also has tons of photos and videos to make the news even more enjoyable. Some of the videos show previews of rides or parades happening. The Daily Disney also covers news that is happening around the theme parks. One of the recent stories is about updating the Downtown Disney area and even renaming it to Disney Springs.  I know that this is website is not hard hitting news, but it informative and enjoyable to read. People who are avid theme park goers will definitely enjoy.

I thought that this separate website is great addition to the Orlando Sentinel. Orlando is known as the home of Disney World, so this website is right on the money. There is even a tab for Disney World's new FantasyLand which recently opened in Magic Kingdom. The Daily Disney produced a video of the soft opening of FantasyLand by using a time-lapse effect. This is great video to attract guests to the theme parks.

Overall I thought this is fantastic idea and angry that it took me so long to find. I think that the Orlando Sentinel should advertise it more on its homepage. In order to find the Daily Disney on the Sentinel's homepage, you have to go to the tourist tab on the top, then click on Daily Disney. I think that it should have its own tab on the Sentinel homepage.
 

The Orlando Sentinel has an average selection of video use in their news coverage. A lot of the video coverage is of local news, events, or tourist attractions. Was I expecting spectacular video use from the Orlando Sentinel? No, but I was pleased with the variety of videos.

On the homepage of the Orlando Sentinel, there is a column of top videos on the left hand side. These videos are compiled of breaking news stories. Some of the videos are from the Orlando Sentinel and others feature video from the Associated Press.

At the top of the Orlando Sentinel homepage is a tab for videos and it takes you to the video gallery. All of the videos in the gallery are split into two main categories: top videos or featured videos. The top videos are the same ones from the homepage. The featured videos are split into categories such as: Trayvon Martin shooting, sports videos, entertainment, crime, business, and etc. All of the videos in each of those categories has a video that is done by the Orlando Sentinel. None of the videos have a text story that goes along. There is just a couple sentence blurb about the video.

The Orlando Sentinel uses video in a local of event coverage. They cover entertainment events, sports events, and also tourist events. I like this because readers can actually see what is going on, instead of just reading about it. The videos add a lot of context to the events. One of my favorite categories under the featured videos was the tourism/theme parks one. I think that using video for a topic like that is extremely useful and easy to look at.

I think that the video gallery would be stronger if there were stories attached to each video. I think having both gives the story a more well-rounded feel to it. I like the variety of videos that the Orlando Sentinel had. I wish that they would cover more breaking news pieces with video coverage.

The Orlando Sentinel's article on Hugo Chavez's health was very well written. Chavez, Venezuela's President, has been dealing with a lot of health issues lately. He underwent his fourth surgery for cancer in December and is now undergoing a second round of chemotherapy to control the disease. According to recent reports by Vice President Nicolas Maduro who said that this set of treatments are going to be 'difficult' for Chavez, Chavez still remains in a 'good state of mind.'

I thought that the article was very well written and provided accurate information. I also liked that the Orlando Sentinel did a story about Chavez's health, because they covered something that was international news. Many Florida citizens are of Hispanic descent, so I am sure that this article was informative for them. The article also stated that Chavez is on a respirator after his December surgery, because he was having difficulty breathing on his own. 

There have been articles written about Chavez that are saying that he should step down because he is not capable of leading the country anymore. There have also been articles reporting that Chavez had died and that his family didn't want to inform the public. 

The Orlando Sentinel made the article easy to read and provided background information on Chavez's health. The design of the article was also like a traditional article, with a picture at the top. The article focused on Chavez's health and didn't go off topic. It also had a good quote from the Vice President of Venezuela on the situation. The Orlando Sentinel produced a newsworthy piece.

A mountaineer, father, amputee, and fighter are words that describe Aron Ralston. Ralston was involved in 2003 in an accident involving a boulder trapping his hand. He was stuck inbetween two canyons and his right hand was pinned against the wall of the canyon. He was trapped for six days, more specifically 127 hours, before cutting off his own arm (from the forearm down). His story made headlines all over the country, inspired his book Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and the film 127 Hours which was nominated for six Oscars. This past Thursday Ralston spoke at Marquette and truly electrified the crowd. The event was part of the Speaker Series which is sponsored by Marquette Student Government. The event will be one that I will never forget.

The event started off by showing the trailer of the movie 127 Hours, which James Franco stars as Aron Ralston. Ralston was warmly welcomed from a almost full Varsity Theater crowd. Ralston started off by saying that most people knew him as the guy who cut his own arm off, but what people didn't know was that he was the guy smiling when he cut his arm off. Ralston took  the crowd through the day's events leading up to the incident.

He went into details about what he was thinking when his arm got stuck and he didn't hold back anything. He told his story with confidence and emotion. My roommate described the event as "an emotional rollercoaster." Ralston was a fantastic public speaker. He demonstrated what he was doing when he was trying to get free from the bolder and he even managed to intertwine humor into his story. Ralston said, "My medical training up to that point was watching a couple of episodes of ER." He didn't know medically what he was doing, but he did know that medical help was at least eight to ten hours away.

After this whole incident happened, Ralston said that the bolder did really help him decide what was important in life. Ralston believed that once he freed himself from the boulder, that he stepped out of his grave and into his life again. He even went as far as saying 'thank you' to the boulder.

Ralston still continues to climb mountains and even goes white water rafting. He has a son named Leo with his ex-wife. Ralston even helped design his prosthetic arm, which has different attachments, to help him with climbing. He makes sure that he lives every day to the fullest. Ralston closed the event by saying, "We are not just here to enrich our own lives, but to enrich the lives of others." His speech was truly inspiring and one that will resonant for a while.