ISABEL GRAHAM PORTFOLIO
College Writing
Each piece of writing is from a various class at Elon University that I feel shows my best assets as a writer.
News Release
The goal of this piece was to include only necessary information so the viewer can easily gain access to the news.
Virginia's Olympia University Launches Innovative New Program to Help High School Dropouts Get Their Diplomas
MOUNTAINTOP, VA, March 25, 2020-- In an effort to address a higher than average high school dropout rate in the area surrounding Olympia University -- a private liberal arts college of 6,000 undergraduates -- the institution will begin a program to help high school dropouts get their diploma by taking the courses they need for their degrees.
Olympia is located in a rural area with a dropout rate of 32 percent, higher than Virginia and the nationwide average. Only 18 percent of the students in the four-county area surrounding Mountaintop finish college.
It has been Olympia’s president, Dr. Foster L. Fogbottom's goal to address the high school dropout problem. Beginning in August 2020, night classes will be offered in such high school subjects as mathematics, English, American history, and general science. Those who have completed their high school requirement -- attaining at least a B average -- can take introductory college-level courses. Initially, the program aims to admit 300 students into the program, with an overall goal of giving high school dropouts the opportunity to complete their high school degree and possibly finish four semesters of college work within a six-year period.
“We believe a university has an obligation to its wider community and not just to those who teach, work, or study on campus,” said Dr. Fogbottom. “We are members of that community. In this part of our state, we have an acute problem that can be addressed by our reaching out to those who need help. We believe that within 10 years, this program can become a national model for other programs in economically depressed areas.”
In terms of cost, tuition plus room and board is $24,000 per year at Olympia. With this program, completion of high school credits will cost no more than $2,000. Those who are qualified to take college courses will pay no more than $2,000 for each four-credit course. Olympia will also aid with financial support by obtaining federal/state loans. Assuming that most students going through this program will live in the four-county area surrounding Mountaintop, they will not need to pay the additional room and board costs.
Mastercard Case Study - Mobile Payments
The goal of this assignment was to expertly explain why MasterCard implementing mobile payment was effect and necessary, while also giving brief background.
In this case study, Mastercard answers questions by utilizing the data found in their studies. How to effectively implement mobile payment into their company and how consumers will react to mobile payments. Mastercard was able to collect data and get insight on the answers to these questions with a business tool called The Conversation Suite. This engine tracks global insights and engagement in order to gain business results for the new mobile payment initiative. The Conversation Suite interpreted the evolving social discussion of mobile commerce to inform marketing and communication targeting and messaging, provided a pulse of social opinion for the mobile payments industry, uncovered positive and negative drivers of use, adoption, and sentiment in the global market, and reported on barriers to adoption of mobile technology for consumers and merchants to help MasterCard overcome them.
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Using the expertise, they were able to track relevant social media posts about the concept of mobile payments. A substantive amount of comments on these posts were inspected under a more focused lens, human-coded content analysis. The data found was then converted into actionable business drivers and adopted by Mastercard. MasterCard generated regular timely reports, showing key metrics, SWOT analysis, key influencers, and industry themes.
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The accuracy of this study was shown in the year by year embracing the mobile payment idea and leading more consumers to ask for this feature from their banks. Although there was some skepticism and general reservations about how accessible this feature would be worldwide, consumers were up to date with the functions and reliability of mobile payments. The insights of active countries were fed back to Mastercard’s global communications strategy and formed into a more expansive industry insight. They were able to engage with the media, influencers, and consumers to better position the brand and create creative opportunities.
Mastercard’s discoveries were used to lead the mobile payment world and create a better, more universal, and accessible platform for people. The analysis was able to demonstrate the user experience, technical quality, and acceptance of the feature were improving on many scales for the consumers. Most posts praised aspects including innovation, convenience, and speed, and these findings were fed back into the business. Each aspect of the analysis was able to aid the company in creating an inclusive and effective product to put out on the market. They have shifted consumer conversations from questioning mobile payments and their security to the enhanced experiences that can be found from technological innovations on mobile devices. By implementing The Conversation Suite, it has provided employees a place for brainstorming and sharing, overall leading to create a more collaborative environment to discover new ideas and findings.
Lana Del Rey v. Radiohead Case Study
The goal of this group project was to determine if a specific court case infinges on the first amendment. My role was to do preliminary research on the case and a large sum of writing that features in depth research.
​In 2018, Lana Del Ray, a famous American musical artist, was accused of copyright infringement after the release of her song “Get Free.” It began in August of 2017 when the fans of the rock band Radiohead noticed a resemblance of one of their popular songs to Del Rey’s new release. Then in January of 2018, Del Rey posted a tweet confirming the British band, Radiohead, filed suit against her for copyright infringement based on their 1992 song “Creep.” Although Radiohead and their music publishers deny any lawsuit, a statement indicated a request was made to acknowledge the musical group and all writers of the song “Creep” the credits for “Get Free.” However, the facts are unclear because Del Rey maintained that the group wanted all of her royalties for “Get Free,” but Radiohead and their publishers contend that this is untrue. The question still remains whether Del Rey infringed on Radiohead’s intellectual property. While it is still uncertain about the settlement of the lawsuit, Del Rey’s “Get Free” still does not list song credits to Radiohead (Peretz, 2021).
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Radiohead’s song is protected by copyright. In general, a copyright protects an author from unauthorized use of the copyrighted work. Songs can be copyrighted. In order to resolve the dilemma of whether Lana Del Rey infringed on the copyright of Radiohead, two things need to be proved: access to the original song and substantial similarity (Rochford, 2018). Substantial similarity creates complexity within a case, while access to the original work is a little easier to determine. In this example, access is easy to prove because Radiohead’s “Creep” is a very popular song that was heard on the radio around the world before Del Rey released “Get Free”; therefore, Radiohead could probably prove that Del Rey had access to the song (Rochford, 2018).
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Substantial similarity in copyright law is complicated to determine. When investigating the logistics and sheet music of both “Get Free” and “Creep,” it appears that chord progression and tempos overlap greatly between the two songs. Radiohead would have to prove that the similarity between the two songs is so great that Del Rey must have copied the Radiohead work. Many songs use similar chord progression, so that would not be sufficient to prove Del Rey copied the original work. The most significant parallel materializes in the last chord progression of Del Rey’s song which adds an eerie, dark feeling. This chord is called the minor fourth and it changes the tune drastically because it does not necessarily fit into the progression. However, the minor fourth progression is not copyright protected because it is used in many works, not just specifically Radiohead’s “Creep” (Hawkins, 2021).
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In order for the copyright infringement to be awarded to Radiohead, sheet music and tempos are necessary to compare as evidence to identify if “Get Free” was copied from “Creep.” An expert would need to analyze this evidence along with the substantial similarity of tune which is determined by listening to the songs. Another common thread between the two songs in question is sound. To determine substantial similarity, the phrasing of the vocals and lyrics in “Get Free” requires scrutiny as well, yet this is difficult to determine (Dahl, 2018).
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Throughout history, several legal cases have been relevant to the analysis of Radiohead and Del Rey’s copyright infringement case. There was a prior dispute involving Radiohead and its song “Creep” in 1993. Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood co-wrote the song “The Air That I Breathe” in 1972 for the musical group The Hollies, and Radiohead alleged to have violated the copyright in “Creep”, with the same dispute they brought against Del Rey. As a result, song credits for “Creep” include both Hammond and Hazelwood (Malt, 2018). This case applies because Radiohead accused Del Rey of the same copyright issues they were involved with. This would support a defense to Radiohead’s claim. If the chords and rhythm in the song are substantially similar to “The Air That I Breathe,” they might be so common that Del Rey did not copy them in her song. While “Get Free” only lists Del Rey and the two co-writers, if she was found guilty of copyright infringement not only those who were involved in writing the Radiohead song would be added but also Hammond and Hazelwood. Because the case does not have a published decision, a settlement other than writing credits must have been the outcome (Malt, 2018).
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Another case of legal relevance that would directly apply in the case between Del Rey and Radiohead is Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands INC, 580 U.S.__ (2017). When applying the legal case it is essential to examine two different pieces. First, it must be determined if the published piece can be perceived as a two-or-three dimensional work of art separate from the useful article and the piece would qualify as a protectable pictorial, graphic or sculptural work if imagined separately from the useful article into which it is incorporated. Similarly, when investigating the song “Get Free” it can be perceived as a two-or-three dimensional work of art separate from the substantial similarity to “Creep.” However, when it comes to the second portion of the Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands test, Lana Del Rey’s song would not qualify as a protectable work. “Get Free” follows the same tempo, chord progression and contains lyrical similarity but it does not differ enough from the song “Creep” to be protected. The two songs have been compared, and the melodies and verses are similar.
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Finally, the lawsuit of Williams v. Marvin Gaye, 895 F. 3d 1106 (9th Cir. 2018) is relevant to the dispute between Del Rey and Radiohead since Thicke and Williams were successfully sued by Gaye’s Estate for plagiarizing his song “Got to Give It Up” due to substantial similarities in their work “Blurred Lines.” During the case, the extrinsic test was used to decide whether or not Thicke and Williams were responsible for infringement. This test breaks down the work into constituent elements and compares those elements for proof of copying as measured by similarity. If we employ the extrinsic test to the case of Del Rey and Radiohead it would be easier to determine if “Get Free” violated copyright laws. Additionally, the extrinsic test might make the decision to apply the penalty of writer’s credit, royalties, or both easier to assign . Utilizing a test like this gives reliability to the substantial similarity proof necessary to decide whether Radiohead’s copyright was infringed on, especially since access to the original work is already proven due to the popularity of “Creep” (Smith & Nguyen, 2017).
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The ethics of copyright infringement is difficult and complex because many musical artists are inspired by the creative works of others. However, when analyzing the dilemma between Del Rey and Radiohead, the teleological framework could be applied to this case because it is about making ethical judgments and emphasizes the consequences of one’s actions. If Del Rey violated a standard of copyright infringement intentionally or unintentionally, she is responsible for copyright infringement under the law. Yet, the important part of the teleological framework is whether her actions were intentional, which places value on the goal of her actions. This particular case should be settled in a utilitarian manner to ensure both sides equally get what is deserved. If Del Rey’s song was subconsciously similar to the Radiohead song, each artist receiving equal royalties and writing credit is a reasonable consequence when proof of intentional infringement is ambiguous.
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If Del Rey agreed to share royalties with Radiohead and shared writing credit, it could be seen as an admission that she copied Radiohead’s work. This might damage her reputation in the music industry. On the other hand, Radiohead might be applauded for standing up for the rights of people who write music. If the songs are seen by others as sufficiently similar, the resolution might serve as a warning to songwriters in the future to be careful not to copy a prior work.
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The counterargument to allowing Radiohead to share in the royalties and writing credit from Del Rey’s song is that it might make it easier for an artist to claim copyright infringement. If an artist can successfully sue for an unintentional infringement, more lawsuits might be filed. Litigation is expensive and time consuming, so people might be less likely to release their original music if they could be sued for an unintentional copyright infringement. This is especially a problem if the chords and phrasing of Del Rey’s song are similar to many other songs.
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Allowing Radiohead to receive half the royalties instead of 100% might encourage copyright infringement. All the defendant would have to do when a copyright lawsuit was filed is to say that she did not copy the work on purpose. Then the artist could collect half the royalties for a song that she copied from a prior work (Resnikoff, 2018).
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Although we are unaware of the specific resolution in this case, Del Rey said to fans at a Lollapalooza concert, “Now that my lawsuit is over, I guess I can sing that song anytime I want, right?” (Malt, 2018)
In comparison to previous court cases and the prior lawsuit against Radiohead over their song “Creep,” questions arise. Legally, does Radiohead have the right to bring suit against Lana Del Rey for copyright infringement if they are not the sole writers of “Creep?” Since the case against Radiohead was an out-of-court settlement, then they are not technically considered guilty of copyright infringement (Resnikoff, 2018).
Life Story
The goal of this assignment was to write a story about your life in great detail, making it feel as though the reader isn't left guessing what happens next.
One night of my many club soccer practices, probably the third of the week, we were playing under the lights on my school’s turf field. Turf fields are deceivingly soft, they are nothing like real grass. They are hard and layered with pellets of rubber to maintain the structure. The pellets that would leave engravings in my knees and elbows when I would fall, buried under the soles of my cleats, and interwoven in my socks. Turf followed me everywhere. I have never quite liked playing on turf because it was always hotter on summer days than on normal grass fields, and again it was deceivingly soft.
At the end of this practice, our coach made us run my least favorite drill, 1v1s. We all groaned as he set up the cones. It is important to keep in mind that our practices were three hours long and included an abundance of cardio. Needless to say, we were all exhausted and sore by the end of each day. In this certain drill, both players would start at the halfway line and our coach would punt the ball towards the goal. The objective was to gracefully trap the ball under your feet and make a play towards the goal. There were many different strategies to this since you were your only teammate. I usually just went with what I was best at, running. I would outrun my opponent and hopefully take a shot before she reached me, and get the process over with as quickly as possible. This is exactly what I did this time around. Anxiety would flood my body every time we had to do 1v1s.
My teammate and I, Gigi, lined up on the halfway line, both nervously inching forward and waiting for the direction of our coach. Did I mention if you weren’t able to get a shot off you would have to do 60 sit-ups? Needless to say, I wanted to win after this long grueling practice. Our coach picked up a ball, glanced at both of us, and said, “On your toes ladies,” as he dropped the ball to his foot and punted it in the air. I took off, like I said I would, and looked up in the sky to find the falling ball. The lights were blinding to look up at, and I could not locate the ball. Within split seconds, Gigi came barreling towards me, I guess she saw the ball. As I was facing the goal, and she approached me from behind, she made contact with my back and sent me toppling onto the turf field, head first. I remember feeling my head ricochet off the field and feeling endless amounts of rubber pellets pressed against my face. I was confused and heard cheering as Gigi scored a goal. My coach yelled to me, “Count ‘em to 60 Isabel, let’s go!” Gigi ran up at pat me on the back saying, “sorry” as she ran back to the rest of our teammates with ease. As I tried to find my center of gravity while standing up, I failed. Everything and everyone was blurred together in one synchronised image. I fell right back over and started to cry out of pure confusion. My coach was a very calm man who didn’t believe in injury, just like me, however, no one on my team had ever seen a teardrop fall from my eyes, this signaled my coach to run over to me. I heard everyone around me mumbling and saw them staring ever so faintly, I was embarrassed. My coach shouted, “Give her space to breathe people! Go run laps or something. They all groaned again as they started their trek around the field. I had no clue what it was like to get hurt during this sport and I felt so weak for not being able to pick myself back up like I usually would. Everyone knew I had a concussion, and although it was mild, I could not wrap my head around the idea that I couldn’t play soccer for a month. All I could think of was, “Isabel you are weak.”
I got home from practice that day and did not think much about this so-called concussion. I felt fine after a while and was ready to presume my everyday activities.
The next day, my friends were hanging out after school and just in time, right before my next soccer practice. As usual, I trekked on the long journey home with them to my best friend Josie’s house. Little did I know that my mother had scheduled a doctor’s appointment for me and she was waiting patiently for me at my school. After about an hour of watching the fluorescent television, which weirdly gave me a really bad headache, my mother came to Josie’s house enraged. Some would say even more enraged that I was daring to watch TV. She furiously sad, “Isabel. What part about going home after school do you not understand? We need to go to the doctor right now so she can check your head!” As she glanced around the room and saw the TV lit up, she swiveled her head towards me and sternly said, “Get up right now.” My friends were quite confused as I hadn’t exactly told them about the whole possible concussion thing. “We talked about this?” I replied to her rant. I guess I blanked on the conversation from the night before when I got home from practice, big whoop.
I started my career in club soccer when I was ten, which is much more intensive than any other program I had been involved in. We practiced 4 times a week and have tournaments every weekend where we played at least 4 games. We traveled around the country and my life pretty much revolved around soccer. I was a very active kid so I needed a system like this that practically forced me to get my energy out on the field. Understandably, I could not afford to be hurt, this concussion would mean I would miss endless practices and games.
I had always taken pride in never breaking a bone or getting hurt in my many years of playing soccer. I am not sure how I went so long without being injured, my mom said its from all the milk I drank as a kid. I definitely jinxed myself by gloating about never getting hurt to my parents and teammates, everyone knew my day would come.
I have always been a pretty rambunctious player, I was taller than most, but as my dad likes to say I had, “not meat on my bones.” This ended up leading to a lot of being pushed around, especially as a defender which was my position of choice. Position of choice is a strong phrase as I was practically forced into it by every coach that came and went from our team. I was never quite sure why because of my body build, but I was actually pretty good at it. I was an annoying gnat to any offensive player and had the speed to catch up to any person heading towards our goal. Also, I pretty much sucked at playing offensively. This is why I absolutely hated drills during practices that were offense orientated.
In the weeks to come, I was obviously not allowed to play soccer. I was usually very negative towards practices and having to travel for games, I was getting sick of the commitment, but this concussion is what made me realize how much my life revolved around soccer. I had nothing to do, although this could go along with the fact that my mother didn’t let me do anything in order to not make the concussion worse. To put it simply, I felt stupid being injured. I always, subconsciously judged people who would sit out for injuries. I had many undiagnosed broken toes, pulled muscles, and sprained ankles that I would play through all the time, and I could never understand why other people couldn’t do the same. I know some people definitely had legitimate injuries to mend, but the other minor ones would really make my blood boil. I had discussed this with my parents many times, and they would always say, “You don’t know what pain they are feeling.” But these same people would sit out of timeless games and practices for a pulled hamstring. It just didn’t make sense. What really would make my blood boil was when these so-called injured players would come back and be put right back in their starting positions. I had no resentment towards starting players because I was one of them, but these girls would come back and have no sense of what was going on. They were slower, less technical, and overall got their position back too easily, and I was scared people were going to think that of me when I eventually came back. I felt useless sitting through practices and not being able to add anything, and watching my position being taken over by another player. What if she was better than me and I could never recover? I grew a large hatred towards the girl who took my position and for every little mistake, she made I would make a mental tally. This might sound psychotic, but so was this sport and team. The most frustrating thing was when I felt better I still had 2 more weeks of just sitting on the sidelines hoping my coach would remember my capabilities. I watched new plays get created, and high fives were given to the girl who took my position. It was heart-wrenching and made me want to push through any further injury even more.
The day I was cleared to play again I remember vividly, it was a cold rainy Tuesday. I came very ready to play, but also very nervous that I was going to disrupt the ecosystem that my team built without me. My teammates weren’t phased by my return because we had all seen this process happen one too many times. I thought I was going to be thrown right back into my position like the rest of the cleared people, but boy was I wrong. For the first time in history, my coach made me sit. Again. “Isabel watch the new plays and get your head back in this game.” He made me watch them play as if I hadn’t been doing that for the past month. After sitting there for three hours, and being so violently frustrated and sad my coach called for me, “Isabel, up.” I somberly got up and walked over with my head hung low. As I reached him he said to me, “If you don’t drop the attitude, you will never start again.” I have never been a big crier, but this felt like a stab in my heart. As tears rolled down my face and I tried to utter words he said, “Go run around the field until I tell you to stop.” Now, this was a very normal request from him, but never for this long, or alone. He was a big believer in teamwork, and if one person messed up, everyone dealt with the consequences. I also hadn’t done anything, especially cardio in over a month. He made me run for an hour and a half. All my other teammates had been dismissed, and the turf lights had turned off. I was running in the pitch black and sprinkling rain while my coach watch from his car. Occasionally he would roll down the window and scream, “Do sprints on the long sides,” or, “Only a while longer,” or “You stop when I tell you to stop.” When he finally got out of his car and walked back up to the field all he said was, “You can go home.” I felt defeated, again, getting into my car. I sat there for a while just crying and trying to catch my breath. I wasn’t even tired, just frustrated.
The next practice I came expecting the worse. Prepared to run again, by myself. My coach acted as if nothing had happened and put me right back into my position and let me play. I was confused but chose to act as if nothing had happened. After practice, I went up to him with the basic mindset of saying, “What gives.” He explained, “I made you do more than the other girls because I knew you could handle it, and if you couldn’t, you wouldn’t be back in your position.” With that simple statement, I realized a lot about myself, inside and outside of the soccer field.
Through the years of soccer and the mental strain, I grew up with soccer and it taught me more than I think anything could have. I learned through my teammates, I learned through instruction, I learned through failure, and I smiled through accomplishments. Also, I learned to never get hurt again.
Life Story - Description
The goal of this assignment was to write in as much detail as possible about a specifc time within a limit of words.
As I sit out by the pool I am greeted by the warm summer breeze and smell of coconut sunscreen. If summer didn’t smell this way, I would think something was wrong. I lay with my stomach down against the rough pool chair and bury my face into the soft, fluffy towel. I feel the towel imprinting my face as the sun scorches the back of my pale winter body. I always make the mistake of picking the chair closest to the plethora of bushes outlining the property. These bushes attract the likes of many kinds of bugs. I heard them whizzing around my ears as I swatted in hopes that they would get the idea that they were not welcome. I let my arms dangle on the sides of the chair, brushing along the dry grass below. The seagulls see squawk, ruining the peace and quiet for the moment. They hover above in the air, seemingly just to annoy those below. They mock the little kids playing in the pool, who are screeching for mommy and daddy to come swim. They too ruined the peace of the pool. Looking out I can hear the faint sound of people hitting golf balls, the sound is relaxing and consistent. A small ping every few minutes to keep my attention, and distract from the many other noises clogging my ears. I decide to retreat to the pool as the sun tries to take me. The cool water rises on my body, I can almost hear a sizzle as my scorched skin enters the water. The water is crystal clear. I dunk my head under and listen to the muffled movement below the surface. As I raise my head it is clear that there is way too much chlorine in the water and my eyes are burning to a crisp.