Program Preserves Historic Sites

Memphis, Tenn.–

It’s the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination on the second floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel. The motel is now the home of the National Civil Rights Museum, where King and other civil rights leaders are honored. The Hampton Hotels’ Save-A-Landmark program is giving the museum a make-over in his honor. Samuel L. Jackson will be there to help.

The restoration of King’s museum is the largest in the history of Save-A-Landmark’s program and will kick off a 2008 campaign called “Landmark Legends.” The purpose of “Landmark Legends” is to restore sites dedicated to prominent Americans.

“There was no question that Dr. King should be the first Legend honored by the program, and there was no better setting to honor his influence on the world than the National Civil Rights Museum,” said Hampton’s vice president of brand marketing, Judy Christa-Cathey.

Other locations devoted to historic figures include the Jesse Owens Memorial Park, Jackie Robinson’s birthplace and Helen Keller’s home as well.

Those interested in seeing the list of restorations can visit the Save-A-Landmark website for details and nominate new places for the program to consider.

The Save-A-Landmark program has been running for 9 years, and invested more than $2.5 million dollars in restorations. They’ve helped research landmarks in need, and promote landmark sites and their importance.

Landmark nominations have helped the program’s  success.  Submissions can be made online or by mailing them in to the company.

Clinton & Obama–America’s Dream Team?

According to Hillary Clinton, she’d be willing to become a running mate with Barack Obama, whether that means she’ll be president or vice president. He appears much less eager to jump on a ticket with her. After winning 12 states in a row in the primaries, it appeared to many as though Barack fever had swept the nation and he was a shoe-in for president. I’m not saying which way I swing (politically speaking!)… but our country is going to be very different than it has been if either or both are elected. A change of party and history in the making. I’m sure not the only one interested to find out what happens!

The blog I found that wrote on the subject of Barack and Hillary is very different from the news article. Although they both contain the same information, the news site is definitely less biased than the blog. It seems to me whoever wrote the blog entry was inclined to favor Obama. In a news article, it’s not professional to appear to have favorites. Your job is to inform the public, not sway them! In the blogging community, your main purpose is to be opinionated–it’s not as interesting if you only write the facts.

It was easy to distinguish the difference between the blog and the news story. In the article written by Hawaii’s news station, they include facts and give reference who has said what. They didn’t appear to care who won either way, but they gave the straight facts. They also included unflattering photos of both candidates at the top, and although they weren’t good, they didn’t make one look better than the other!

The only quote included in the blog was when Hillary said “That may be where this is headed, but, of course, we have to decide who is on the top of ticket. I think the people of Ohio very clearly said that it should be me.” The writer also included a short paraphrase of what Obama said, but most of the blog writing was neither accredited nor quotes. The major difference was the quotes, but the blog also had room to comment. On the news website, you aren’t able to leave comments.

News sites and blog sites are very different. You read a news article to get the information, but a blog site is generally for entertainment or to see what other people think about a hot topic.