Salutations and Hellos

Friday, January 22, 2010

It'll all turn out

Hope for Haiti is on tonight on ABC. Tune in if you have a chance and give whatever you can. It's a great way to help those in need. If we are all united to one cause, just think how many we can save who need desperate medical treatments, food and water supplies. Just because we aren't physically over in Haiti, doesn't mean we can turn a deaf ear to the heart wrenching stories and the destruction that has taken over this country. Let's think if we were in that situation. Would we want the world to aid us? The answer, quite simply, is yes. And it's a yes for me, personally, to help, whether it's through prayer or donations. Donate whatever you can. There's lots of organizations to donate to:

Clinton Bush Haiti Fund

American Red Cross

UNICEF

Hope for Haiti Now

Operation USA

Doctors without borders

Oxfam International

This week was a good one over all. Monday was MLK day so obviously we had off, which we were all happy about. I love that extra day after we get back from Christmas break. It's like a little pillow before the big blows come as we trek through this semester.

Classes are going well. I have my first speech for communications Feb 1st so pray for me! I did theater when I was in high school so I shouldn't be too bad. The only problem I have with public speaking is that it's all about me. I can't hide behind a character I'm trying to portray. Speaking is you in the naked form (not literally, of course haha!). Don't worry. The tactics I learned in theater will definitely be helpful: posture, projection, breathing, articulation. It's just the sweaty palms and the somewhat adrenaline rush I get that I cannot stand. The Lord will sustain me. Doesn't He always?

Philosophy is going great! I thought it was going to be so badly boring. But, it's actually a great class. We have in-depth conversations. Sure we ask questions to the point where we come full-circle from where we started, but it's fun! I think I stumped my professor with one of my questions. He contorted his face in such a way to where I thought, "Well, gee winnickers. I stumped my prof! That's awesome!" I love it. The fun thing about philosophy, at least with my prof, is that he doesn't act as if he knows the answers to the questions we ask or that are in our reading material. Instead, he's humble and travels the road of finding out the answers with us. In that way, we all grow. It's like he's on the same level as us. He just has a big ol' degree in the matter.

Now onto the class that's worrying me a bit just because of the slew of information that tags along with it. Intro to AVP. We have our first project due in a few weeks. Am I nervous? Slightly. Just because while there isn't that much that goes into it, I want to prove that I can be good with technology. I don't necessarily want to go into broadcasting, but I still want to prove I can do the work and I have what it takes to do any branch of journalism. Our first project is just an audio track promo for Belmont. Since homecoming is a few weeks away, I decided to do my project on that. I think it'll turn out swell. I'll stay positive at least.

Ireland. That great land mass of beautiful landscapes and the peak. Ah, the peak. I want to go. I desire to go. Money is a very very very very very tight. An extremely rich husband would work well right about now. I've saved practically everything. Now I have to rely on scholarships. God is going to have to come through for me if it's truly in His will for me to go. I just don't think I'd be this hung up on going if there wasn't something in me that said it was His will for me to go. Every time I think I won't be able to go, there's that little voice saying "Stay strong. Have faith. You're going." Reliance on God is a must and, honestly, I wouldn't be able to do anything without Him. My prayer is that He got me this far. He's opened so many doors for me. If this is one of them, I continually pray He will be with me and provide for me to go. Please keep this in your prayers. I have to have all the money in by mid-April, including financial aid I believe or maybe not. Then they said I need aobut $600 for personal needs. I don't know what that means but we'll see. I'm searching online for scholarships so we'll see where that gets me. The departing date is July 27th.

Well, I think I updated you guys of all the 'stuff' in my life. Ash and I went to Starbucks tonight for a weekly coffee run. The caffeine hasn't kicked in and I don't think it will. Maybe it's because I didn't sleep at all last night! Yes, that could be it.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Thanks for reading all my Jersey, college-kid banter ;)

Have I told you how much I love y'all? A whole heck of a lot!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The future of my future

Remember when I told y'all I was in a class called "Business of News"?

We talked about something that really struck me. Allow me to enlighten you.

Our whole discussion this semester is going to be about the media. When I talk about the "media", I'm talking about broadcasting and news specifically. As we've studied so far, we've noticed that the media is supposed to be a common good. It was designed specifically to keep the government in check and to alert the public when there was some fishy business going on. Today it seems as though the media works for the government. Sensationalism with a dash of biased opinions makes the recipe for media disaster. However, are the newspaper and broadcast execs doing anything about it? No.

Instead of reducing sensationalism and going back to the roots: you know, unbiased journalism, people would actually read and watch! When we have Fox & Friends and ABC's Today show, we journalists are entertainers, subject to the celebrity status instead of being what we are: truth-driven, objective REPORTERS. I'm sorry but when I signed up for this, I didn't read in the SPJC that we have to be entertainers as well as reporters.

The dollar has been the industry's Moses for quite some time. Because the views have switched from ture reporting to how can we make a quick buck, the quality of work has suffered.

Now, I'm not speaking for all journalists when I talk like this. There are great writers and reporters out there who care about the story and not whether this is going to be their big break in a form of a check. Many green journalists don't have the Benjamins on their minds when they first start out. They want the stories. They want to make contacts and meet people and report the stories some may overlook.

Unfortunately, the former is what stands out and what makes the rest of us suffer. There's a video I'm going to post here that we saw this morning. It's about Edward R. Murrow. He was a breakthrough journalist who flourished in radio and broadcasting. He made a speech in 1958 that struck the hammer right on the head. He made a little prophesy in 1958 that, sadly, has come true.

Take a listen.

Goodnight and Good luck

Well, I think that speaks for all of us.

The different hats I wear

Hey everybody!

I know I haven't updated this bad boy for a few days or so because classes have started so I'm still trying to get into my routine.

MWF:

I have to wake up when the sun is just yawning itself. Speech is the morning class and thank God the teacher is interesting and fun because if she was monotone, God help me. I would not survive. After speech, I get a little break and then at 11am I turn into a political analyst in US & World Affairs. It's a decent class and we'll be exploring the status of the US among the other countries and how we can improve our image. After that class, I hustle over to my 12pm class. My power suit is mentally thrown on as I replace the politic strategist brain with a lawyer's in my communication law class. Stomach rumbling, I then go to the caf and grab food-on-the-go and return to my room, exhausted, famished, but happy I'm done classes at 1pm.

Tues & Thurs:

I don't have to wake up quite as early as I do the other three days of the week. For this, I thank God! Ash has 8am's across the board and if it wasn't for our weekly Starbucks run, I can't figure how she would survive. Business and News is my 9:30am class. I'll be posting about that class on another post. It's so interesting! The books we're reading are amazing and have opened my eyes to the mechanics of my future profession. It's scary but exciting. I have a little break for lunch and then at 2pm, I have to be a geek and go to my AVP class. Technology and I aren't the best of friends. I'm going into print and online freelance once I'm out of college. Taking video and such is not for me. The stuff I'm reading isn't helping. I'm more of a hands-on learner so hopefully there's a lot of that in the class. It's the only way I'll survive =)

After I geek-a-fye myself, it's off to Fidelity for my 3:30pm class. I replace my video camera with a toga, sit and ponder life. What is virtue? What is wisdom? The questions lead to more questions and no sooner do we think we have an answer to one, that another question about the answer pops up. The class will be challenging. The books are okay. I think it'll be frustrating sometimes because I want an answer and there are some questions that have no answer. I go back to my room at 4:15pm and flop.

It's hilarious the many "hats" I have to wear for different classes. Every teacher expects something different and it's the college student's job to please them.

With the tummy tumbling, I think it's high time for lunch. Yes? Yes!