I loved this semester and was every excited that I was able to write my column again. Before my column I had written mostly hard news stories. The change to opinion took a time for me to really become comfortable with, but I felt that once I was able to wrap my mind around it this semester, that I was able to keep a good balance of opinion and fact. The biggest thing that made opinion difficult for me was that this question of “who cares what I think” was always in that back of my mind as I wrote.
The first article I wrote this semester way by far my favorite, and I think my best article of all. The topic was one that I was very passionate about right then, and it just seemed to follow every easily was I wrote it. I think that (for an opinion article) when we feel strong emotions about your topic is when the best work comes out because the emotion comes through your writing and readers can then feel the same things through the words of the story.
I am still a little unsure of my plans for the future, but I know that writing will always play a role in my life somehow. I am hoping to finish writing my book over summer, and then I will begin looking for a publisher, and writing the second in the series. I also would like to try and get a couple articles published in magazines. At the moment I want to invest my time into finding a job, but once that happens, should I have the time, I would love to begin finding freelance jobs to write on the side.
Thanks everyone for making it such a great semester, I’ll miss you all!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Midterm
I’ve been following the story about Robbie Tolan being shot in his parents’ driveway. The incident occurred after an officer entered Tolan’s license plate incorrectly which resulted in the plate coming back to a stolen vehicle.
Normally, when I hear of a police shooting in the news I find that the public, in my opinion, is being ridiculously over critical of the shooting and that it was understandable why the police handled the situation in the manner that they did. However, as I heard the details of this story unfold on an HBO sports news show my interest was peaked, and for once I questioned the polices’ actions more than the reaction of the public.
I do not know what the standard procedure for running plates is, however, not rerunning plates which come back as stolen seems to be where the trouble of this night starts. I understand that the police wanted to follow the “stolen” car to its destination, to see if they would be led to a chop shop, but when the car was parked in the driveway of a well kept residence, I would think that the police would have begun to relax. Tolan and his cousin walked almost to the front door before being surprised by two policemen with guns drawn. Here again, it seems that it might have been a good idea to call for more backup. When Tolan’s parents heard the commotion, they came out to defuse the situation, however, from all counts that I have read, the police seemed very high strung and unwilling to listen to anything that the homeowners had to say. I’m not saying that the police should have backed off to the point that they ended up putting themselves in harms way, but allowing the homeowners to quickly show ownership of the car would have resolved the situation right away.
The shooting, has left a bullet lodged in Tolan’s liver and unsure of his future in baseball, is under investigation by both the city of Bellaire, Texas, and the police department to determine whether or not the two officers used an excessive amount of force. I would think that they would also want to review procedures for running plates.
I felt although this was a bad situation that most of the media did a good job handle/presenting the story:
http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/txcn/houston/stories/khou090202_mh_bellaire_mayor_tolan.1343cece.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/nationalsjournal/2009/01/robbie_tolan.html
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/08/baseballer.shot/
However, there were some cites which had articles that did not seems to do as good of a job, having missing facts, additional facts, or statements of opinion.
http://celebgalz.com/bobby-tolans-son-robbie-tolan-shot-by-police-photo/
http://www.afro.com/tabid/456/itemid/2576/Outrage-over-Racial-Profiling-Police-Shooting-i.aspx
Normally, when I hear of a police shooting in the news I find that the public, in my opinion, is being ridiculously over critical of the shooting and that it was understandable why the police handled the situation in the manner that they did. However, as I heard the details of this story unfold on an HBO sports news show my interest was peaked, and for once I questioned the polices’ actions more than the reaction of the public.
I do not know what the standard procedure for running plates is, however, not rerunning plates which come back as stolen seems to be where the trouble of this night starts. I understand that the police wanted to follow the “stolen” car to its destination, to see if they would be led to a chop shop, but when the car was parked in the driveway of a well kept residence, I would think that the police would have begun to relax. Tolan and his cousin walked almost to the front door before being surprised by two policemen with guns drawn. Here again, it seems that it might have been a good idea to call for more backup. When Tolan’s parents heard the commotion, they came out to defuse the situation, however, from all counts that I have read, the police seemed very high strung and unwilling to listen to anything that the homeowners had to say. I’m not saying that the police should have backed off to the point that they ended up putting themselves in harms way, but allowing the homeowners to quickly show ownership of the car would have resolved the situation right away.
The shooting, has left a bullet lodged in Tolan’s liver and unsure of his future in baseball, is under investigation by both the city of Bellaire, Texas, and the police department to determine whether or not the two officers used an excessive amount of force. I would think that they would also want to review procedures for running plates.
I felt although this was a bad situation that most of the media did a good job handle/presenting the story:
http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/txcn/houston/stories/khou090202_mh_bellaire_mayor_tolan.1343cece.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/nationalsjournal/2009/01/robbie_tolan.html
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/08/baseballer.shot/
However, there were some cites which had articles that did not seems to do as good of a job, having missing facts, additional facts, or statements of opinion.
http://celebgalz.com/bobby-tolans-son-robbie-tolan-shot-by-police-photo/
http://www.afro.com/tabid/456/itemid/2576/Outrage-over-Racial-Profiling-Police-Shooting-i.aspx
Thursday, February 12, 2009
My Testimony
For the longest time I did not feel I really had a testimony. Although there is more to my story today, I still feel that this first part of my life is an important thing for me to share; especially to kids in there early to mid teen years.
I was raised in a Christian home, going to church every week with my family. I was not forced to be a Christian, but at the same time I never thought of following anything else. I was not baptized until I was 11-years-old because my parents felt that it was important to understand the meaning behind baptism. So in sixth grade after learning about baptism I went to my parents explained that I know why we should be baptism and its meaning.
This was the start of a great high point in my walk with God. I was going to Sunday school every week, ago with Bible study and Battlezone (a mid-week outreach program). Oh, I almost forgot – it was at Battlezone that I remember consciously giving my life to God; however, I never really talked to anyone about it. My oldest brother and my sister were both counselors for the Jr. High program, and for some reason I always felt that I was expected to follow after them. The thought of being a counselor in the future had never bothered me. The problem was that I felt that I should already know more than I did about Christianity and throughout the first year or two of Jr. High I hated having to having to talk about things I did not know which made it difficult to grow spiritually.
Not to long after I was baptized my other brother (not the one involved with the youth group) moved to Reno and returned months later with a drug problem. This was a very difficult time in my life, but I fell back on God. I found one particular person at church who I could talk with openly, and my walk with God was growing stronger and stronger – I do not know how I would have made it though my brothers addiction without God to run to.
It was either my 8th or 9th grade year that I began feeling everything above this did not make a moving testimony and felt that it was pointless to share with anyone. However, then I realized that just because I had known God for as long as I could remember it did not mean that God could not use this to move other people. I think that people would question the Greatness of God if he could only be found at complete “rock bottom.” There are many people who come to God just because they have something missing in there life. Having people who have simple testimonies helps those people feel, that even those there is not wrong with them and they are not spiraling out of control, that it is ok to search for their Father.
Now you have probably noticed that I am a college student who has only talk about her testimony up until the start of high school, so let me continue. Up until this point my walk had just been getting better, but high was a different story.
By the end of 8th grade I had noticed that my walk was growing kind of stagnant and that do to the outreach nature of the church I attended I was no longer growing spiritually. However, this only made me want to get into high school all the more because I had seen how dedicated the high school group was to growing into leaders and the standards to which they were held. But was with many things in life, it did not turnout as I expected. Due to pastoral and leadership changes with in the church rules about being lessen and so did the effort students began putting into there walk along with the effort of leaders around to hold them accountable. Not even halfway through my 9th grade year I had had even of the high school group. I was tired of posers and the apathy the church had for helping students grow – I wanted more. So after a brief stint of attending the adult services, I began going to a different youth group with a friend. It was small and the discussions had a deep nature to them, I felt that they actually cared about helping with growth, rather than only doing outreach. The problem was, was that after a few months they begin trying to do both and in the end became focused on outreach as my church before, so I began going less and less to the point that I stopped going to church at all. For a few months everything was fine I kept reading my Bible, having quite times and praying, but then those things started decreasing and no one could tell then one day I stopped doing anything. Being that I had grown up in a Christian home, I know all the “right” answers to things without having to think about it and everyone around me thought that my walk was as strong as ever – so I stopped caring. I was never against God and never was trying to rebel from him, but I was not growing even when I tried and nothing really seemed to changed when I stop doing anything so it felt pointless to continue.
Just before graduating high school, although I was still living in a way that no one know I was not walking with God, I began to feel the change, but I run into a problem. Not only did I want God back in my life, but I began feeling that I wanted that someone special as well. Every time I would begin to get my walk back on track, I would see how happy my siblings were with their “other halves” and would again feel that I was missing something in my life (I had always wanted to get married young), and I would tell myself (young and stupid as I was) that if I really had God back in my life I would have all I needed in him and would no longer have large desire to meet someone. It took me sometime, but I finally realized the obvious – that God design marriage and that there is nothing wrong with wanting to be married.
And there is my story – nothing dramatic, no large life changing events…but then again…the God who made me dying on a cross for my sins and then having the grace to guide me and take me back into his arm no matter how many times or how many ways I mess up, misunderstand, or let my sin nature take control, that is what makes me know that there is meaning in it all, and that every Christian has a story to tell.
I was raised in a Christian home, going to church every week with my family. I was not forced to be a Christian, but at the same time I never thought of following anything else. I was not baptized until I was 11-years-old because my parents felt that it was important to understand the meaning behind baptism. So in sixth grade after learning about baptism I went to my parents explained that I know why we should be baptism and its meaning.
This was the start of a great high point in my walk with God. I was going to Sunday school every week, ago with Bible study and Battlezone (a mid-week outreach program). Oh, I almost forgot – it was at Battlezone that I remember consciously giving my life to God; however, I never really talked to anyone about it. My oldest brother and my sister were both counselors for the Jr. High program, and for some reason I always felt that I was expected to follow after them. The thought of being a counselor in the future had never bothered me. The problem was that I felt that I should already know more than I did about Christianity and throughout the first year or two of Jr. High I hated having to having to talk about things I did not know which made it difficult to grow spiritually.
Not to long after I was baptized my other brother (not the one involved with the youth group) moved to Reno and returned months later with a drug problem. This was a very difficult time in my life, but I fell back on God. I found one particular person at church who I could talk with openly, and my walk with God was growing stronger and stronger – I do not know how I would have made it though my brothers addiction without God to run to.
It was either my 8th or 9th grade year that I began feeling everything above this did not make a moving testimony and felt that it was pointless to share with anyone. However, then I realized that just because I had known God for as long as I could remember it did not mean that God could not use this to move other people. I think that people would question the Greatness of God if he could only be found at complete “rock bottom.” There are many people who come to God just because they have something missing in there life. Having people who have simple testimonies helps those people feel, that even those there is not wrong with them and they are not spiraling out of control, that it is ok to search for their Father.
Now you have probably noticed that I am a college student who has only talk about her testimony up until the start of high school, so let me continue. Up until this point my walk had just been getting better, but high was a different story.
By the end of 8th grade I had noticed that my walk was growing kind of stagnant and that do to the outreach nature of the church I attended I was no longer growing spiritually. However, this only made me want to get into high school all the more because I had seen how dedicated the high school group was to growing into leaders and the standards to which they were held. But was with many things in life, it did not turnout as I expected. Due to pastoral and leadership changes with in the church rules about being lessen and so did the effort students began putting into there walk along with the effort of leaders around to hold them accountable. Not even halfway through my 9th grade year I had had even of the high school group. I was tired of posers and the apathy the church had for helping students grow – I wanted more. So after a brief stint of attending the adult services, I began going to a different youth group with a friend. It was small and the discussions had a deep nature to them, I felt that they actually cared about helping with growth, rather than only doing outreach. The problem was, was that after a few months they begin trying to do both and in the end became focused on outreach as my church before, so I began going less and less to the point that I stopped going to church at all. For a few months everything was fine I kept reading my Bible, having quite times and praying, but then those things started decreasing and no one could tell then one day I stopped doing anything. Being that I had grown up in a Christian home, I know all the “right” answers to things without having to think about it and everyone around me thought that my walk was as strong as ever – so I stopped caring. I was never against God and never was trying to rebel from him, but I was not growing even when I tried and nothing really seemed to changed when I stop doing anything so it felt pointless to continue.
Just before graduating high school, although I was still living in a way that no one know I was not walking with God, I began to feel the change, but I run into a problem. Not only did I want God back in my life, but I began feeling that I wanted that someone special as well. Every time I would begin to get my walk back on track, I would see how happy my siblings were with their “other halves” and would again feel that I was missing something in my life (I had always wanted to get married young), and I would tell myself (young and stupid as I was) that if I really had God back in my life I would have all I needed in him and would no longer have large desire to meet someone. It took me sometime, but I finally realized the obvious – that God design marriage and that there is nothing wrong with wanting to be married.
And there is my story – nothing dramatic, no large life changing events…but then again…the God who made me dying on a cross for my sins and then having the grace to guide me and take me back into his arm no matter how many times or how many ways I mess up, misunderstand, or let my sin nature take control, that is what makes me know that there is meaning in it all, and that every Christian has a story to tell.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
What I have Learned from Banner this Semester (Final)
What I have learned in class this semester…at first, being that this was my second semester working on the Banner, I did not feel that I had learned as much as I did the first semester because there was so much to learn at first with the inverted pyramid, AP style guide and CBU style guide. (I will always be learning new things about the AP style guide…there are so many things which I would have never thought to be style issues until looking through that book – it never ceases to amaze me!) However, once I looked beyond the very basics of journalistic writing, I began to see how I have grown and changed this semester. I loved having my column this semester, but I will admit that it threw me for a little bit of a loop at first being able to put opinion into newspaper writing (I’d mostly done hard news before that) – I was afraid that if I started putting too much opinion that no one would be interested in reading my thoughts on things. The Harrower book helped me to get more comfortable with opinion and gave good tips on how to keep opinion appropriate for column writing. Looking at other people’s columns was also very helpful. Should I be allowed to do my column again next semester, I think I will have a much better feel for how to write like a columnist.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Sprint Cup Chase (Midterm)
From the time that the “Chase” was invented, every NASCAR Sprint Cup fan has had their own opinions on whether or not it was a good change for the sport.
One blogger at http://www.racedriven.com/2008/10/5-nascar-sprint-cup-series-chases-races.html sang mostly praise for the Chase. The feel of the blog was that the Chase is an exciting format in which to decide the Sprint Cup Championship.
Another blogger at http://nascar.fanhouse.com/2008/10/27/edwards-roush-kick-off-chase-whining/#cont did not having many good things to say about the Chase format and brought to light some of its “flaws” and “flaws” that some people in racing are trying to add.
However, other bloggers, like at http://nascar.fanhouse.com/2008/09/21/chase-for-the-sprint-cups-bff-not-kyle-busch/, stick more to the facts and less about the pros and cons of the Chase and talk purely about the excitement of the 2008 Chase.
The first blog I found on the topic of the Chase was a long and detailed recap of the first 5 races in the Chase and the exciting surprises that it has held thus far. It was a good overview of the ups for drivers like Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy, Greg Biffle in the No. 16 3M Ford and teammate Carl Edwards in the No. 99 Office Depot Ford, along with the downs for such as Kyle Busch in the No. 18 M&M Chevy, Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 National Guard Chevy and Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 FedEx Chevy. I agree with this blogger in that it has been an exciting, unpredictable and somewhat shocking Chase, however, I do not share the same enthusiasm about the Chase formatting.
When it comes to the formatting of the Championship I must say that I agree more with the second blog that I found in that ten races out of 36 does not mean a driver is the Champion of a season. I share this blogger’s opinion that NASCAR was thinking more about excitement and drawing crowds than Championship quality when they instituted the Chase. In my opinion, looking at the way the Chase has played out since its creation, all NASCAR has done is made a few races more exciting, not the Championship as a whole. However, I must say that it was a good move on NASCAR’s part as far as drawing attention (at least with fans that they already had) because the Chase has been around for several years now, and it is still a very hot topic with many.
This brings me to the part of this blog that was shocking to me – car owner Jack Roush wants to change the Chase format to only count nine out of ten races! Roush’s top driver in the Chase, Edwards who has had two bad finishes in the Chase, is 183 points behind points leader Johnson. I understand that Roush wants another Championship but at what cost to the sport? I think that the blogger said it best - “It doesn't happen in other sports. Monday night, the Philadelphia Phillies won't be putting eight players on the field simply because they have a three game to one lead in the World Series.”
The last blog I found talks more about Busch’s misfortune in the Chase and how after such a great season he could have such a back Chase. Which brings me to my point: is the Chase really fair? Guys, like Busch, drive their hearts out for 26 races to only have the slate wiped more-or-less clean and watch as a great season and hope of a championship end with just a couple bad races. I guess that it makes NASCAR more like other sports out there that play a regular season and then have the best compete in play-off games for the title of champions, however, NASCAR and the Chase are not like other sports and their play-offs. One very large difference is that all 43 drivers remain on the track in the last ten races (the Chase) increasing the risk of being wrecked and taken out of the Chase. Also if NASCAR is trying to be like other sports, why keep points – why not just keep track of wins and the best records, like other sports?
One blogger at http://www.racedriven.com/2008/10/5-nascar-sprint-cup-series-chases-races.html sang mostly praise for the Chase. The feel of the blog was that the Chase is an exciting format in which to decide the Sprint Cup Championship.
Another blogger at http://nascar.fanhouse.com/2008/10/27/edwards-roush-kick-off-chase-whining/#cont did not having many good things to say about the Chase format and brought to light some of its “flaws” and “flaws” that some people in racing are trying to add.
However, other bloggers, like at http://nascar.fanhouse.com/2008/09/21/chase-for-the-sprint-cups-bff-not-kyle-busch/, stick more to the facts and less about the pros and cons of the Chase and talk purely about the excitement of the 2008 Chase.
The first blog I found on the topic of the Chase was a long and detailed recap of the first 5 races in the Chase and the exciting surprises that it has held thus far. It was a good overview of the ups for drivers like Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy, Greg Biffle in the No. 16 3M Ford and teammate Carl Edwards in the No. 99 Office Depot Ford, along with the downs for such as Kyle Busch in the No. 18 M&M Chevy, Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 National Guard Chevy and Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 FedEx Chevy. I agree with this blogger in that it has been an exciting, unpredictable and somewhat shocking Chase, however, I do not share the same enthusiasm about the Chase formatting.
When it comes to the formatting of the Championship I must say that I agree more with the second blog that I found in that ten races out of 36 does not mean a driver is the Champion of a season. I share this blogger’s opinion that NASCAR was thinking more about excitement and drawing crowds than Championship quality when they instituted the Chase. In my opinion, looking at the way the Chase has played out since its creation, all NASCAR has done is made a few races more exciting, not the Championship as a whole. However, I must say that it was a good move on NASCAR’s part as far as drawing attention (at least with fans that they already had) because the Chase has been around for several years now, and it is still a very hot topic with many.
This brings me to the part of this blog that was shocking to me – car owner Jack Roush wants to change the Chase format to only count nine out of ten races! Roush’s top driver in the Chase, Edwards who has had two bad finishes in the Chase, is 183 points behind points leader Johnson. I understand that Roush wants another Championship but at what cost to the sport? I think that the blogger said it best - “It doesn't happen in other sports. Monday night, the Philadelphia Phillies won't be putting eight players on the field simply because they have a three game to one lead in the World Series.”
The last blog I found talks more about Busch’s misfortune in the Chase and how after such a great season he could have such a back Chase. Which brings me to my point: is the Chase really fair? Guys, like Busch, drive their hearts out for 26 races to only have the slate wiped more-or-less clean and watch as a great season and hope of a championship end with just a couple bad races. I guess that it makes NASCAR more like other sports out there that play a regular season and then have the best compete in play-off games for the title of champions, however, NASCAR and the Chase are not like other sports and their play-offs. One very large difference is that all 43 drivers remain on the track in the last ten races (the Chase) increasing the risk of being wrecked and taken out of the Chase. Also if NASCAR is trying to be like other sports, why keep points – why not just keep track of wins and the best records, like other sports?
Monday, October 13, 2008
NASCAR
Carl Edwards, in the No. 99 Office Depot Ford, has been getting a bit of “interesting” press over the last couple of weeks. This all started three races ago after Edwards bounced off the walk on the final lap of the race. Edwards was trying to pass Jimmie Johnson No. 48 for the lead coming out of turn four. At first it looked like Edwards messed up by over driving his car into the corner and was unable to stick to the bottom, but in an interview later, Edwards said that he had fully intended on hitting the wall. Edwards’ reason for this was that he plays a lot of video games and that hitting the wall in those does not slow him down the way it did on the track at Kansas Speedway.
Edwards then managed to stay in the spotlight at Talladega the following week when he caused a wreck which took out six Chase drivers including himself and two of his teammates. One reason Edwards received the scrutiny that he did, was the he had been hanging in the back of the pack all day staying out of the main draft and not bump-drafting. The wreck was caused when Edwards was making his move to the front of the pack and he tried bump-drafting with his teammate Greg Biffle No. 16 in the turn.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Women Need More Shoes
I don't understand why guys don't get that women need more shoes then they do! When a guy wants to look nice (for work, a wedding, formal dinner etc.), he has the option of black, grey, dark blue, or brown pants with a nice shirt of a verity of colors, and maybe a tie and jacket that goes well with the pants and shirt. They don't wear high-heels, so really they only need one or two pairs of dress shoes in basic colors like black or/and brown. Women on the other hand wear a much wide range of colors and don't just wear pants for nice events. They have skirts (long and short), dresses (long and short), and nice capris. They wear high-heels or flats, not just basic dress shoes like men, and heels/flats have a very wide range of looks. In addition not every pair works with every outfit. Plus their is a need for not only basic black and brown, but also silver, gold, and white. However, this is not where colors of heels/flats end, very often an outfit will looks its best with a nonbasic not (blue, green, red, etc.). Then there is also the "problem" that not all heels/flats are right for certain occasions which creates a need for more than one pair/style in some colors.
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