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.
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