Make attempt at longest engagement in history before actually getting married.
Come back to KU, prodigal son style.
Turn 30, then graduate from KU as a hopeful cynical curmudgeon.
That last step might be a little preliminary; I have one summer class to go before earning my degree. But it's just one class, so what can go wrong? If this were a movie, we'd now do the groovy flash forward into the future and see just how prophetic my statement was. I imagine something like an angry group of peasants with pitchforks and firebrands storming Stauffer-Flint while I stand in its tower, hurling obscenities down on them, challenging them to end my unholy reign.
I have an overactive imagination.
I make a lot of jokes about how long it has taken me to get this far. I'm really quite satisfied with my path though. The above time line isn't arbitrary. Something wonderful has happened at each of the odd stops along my winding road to the here and now. Even pizza delivery had a particularly important role to play in my development. That's a story for another day though.
For now, thank you fellow students, readers, professors and multimedia newsroom coordinators. You folk need a catchier title.
For some of you, this is a goodbye. For the rest, this ride's not quite done yet. Please keep your hands and feet in the car until it comes to a complete stop.
John Lennon said it. It was my senior yearbook quote. And once again the lyric "you may call me a dreamer, but I'm not the only one," is relevant in my life.
People will still watch TV. Photo courtesy of www.eyeintheear.com
After 16 grueling weeks of figuring out HTML, hyper-linking and repurposing scripts, I'm all done. I realized that I actually learned something: I'm a TV person.
I have read study after study that proves the Internet is becoming the most popular source for news. But to me, those are just studies, done by people that aren't here, they're not showing it to me. It was like a rumor - the Web is the way to go - and people kept telling it to me as though TV is a sinking ship.
I didn't want to believe it, and honestly, I still have trouble comprehending it. Radio and newspaper are very old forms of the media, but people still use it to get information. I am no longer naive to the fact TV isn't the king media anymore, but I know I am not the only one who didn't jump onto the Internet news bandwagon.
However, taking this class has helped me realize that the media is shifting. But even more importantly, it has helped me understand how I can be apart of the shift. Don't be fooled, when the time comes, I will be ready for the digital switch, hyperlinks and all.
But for now, I am still going to pursue a career in TV producing. I know I am going to keep watching TV... and I'm not the only one.
The semester is nearly over and so is my stay in the William Allen White School of Journalism. Although I still need five (5) more hours of journalism credit to graduate next year (on time) I am considering this my final semester involved in journalism activities. Journalism 694 marks my last advanced media course in the school and all that is left is ethics and media and sports production.
Speaking of sports production, I want to take this time to share my summer plans. After my last final on Wednesday May 16th, I am driving to Connecticut to start a summer internship with ESPN. At ESPN I will be continuing to learn and practice live directing. Being behind the scenes is my true passion and I am very fortunate for this opportunity. I hope that when my stay at the University of Kansas is over next May that this internship will turn into a permanent position at ESPN. If not, I am sure I will find another way back to "The World-Wide Leader in Sports."
Finally I would like to thank a few people in the school of journalism that have helped me achieve my goals up to this point. First of all Dick Nelson who gave me a chance right out of high school to step into the student television station, KUJH-TV, and start directing. Working at KUJH served as a good step for me to advance my skills as a director.
Next Terry Bryant, who recommended me to KSNT in Topeka. Without that I would not have ended up at KSNT and gained the valuable experience necessary to advance my career.
Finally I would like to thank the teacher of this class, Rick Musser. Rick and I didn't know each other too well until my internship at KSNT started. Rick allowed me to take the internship for credit (which was vital for KSNT to accept me), even though I hadn't had the school of journalism's required course, journalism 415. If not for that waiver, I would not have worked at KSNT and would probably not be going to ESPN. Rick also wrote ESPN a letter of recommendation, which I view as something that pushed me over the hump and into ESPN.
Thank you all very much for helping me in my endeavors and I look forward to making the school proud at ESPN. I am also looking forward to a difficult senior year that will finally see me graduate. Thank you all so much and good luck in the future!
It is time to say adieu.. to you and you and you. I am pinching myself. I can't believe my college career is reaching its end.
It seems like for the past 17 years (give or take) I have been doing one count down after another. I counted down my last few days until I graduated from grade school. Then I counted down my last few precious days of high school. Now it is time for me to count down my last few days of College, and SCHOOL period.
What will I count down next? The next step I take will be the next step that begins the rest of my life. This is definitely a bittersweet experience. I am thrilled to have achieved what I have and to be done with school, but I am sad to let these years go.
Everyone has been telling me the real world is rough and that I should hold on to my years in school as long as I can. But I am ready to move on with this thing called life.
So, where do I go from here? I am hoping to start my career in radio. I was bit by the radio bug 2 years ago and there is no turning back now. As of now, I have applied to a local radio corporation and if that falls through, I hope to be interning with KPR here in Lawrence.
The Journalism school and I have had our ups and downs, but I appreciate all that I have learned. To Patrick: Your HTML knowledge makes you cool, not nerdy. Thanks for being so easy going and fun to work with. To Uncle Rick: You challenged me to take that extra step, to go that extra mile and not settle for less than my best. I appreciate all you have taught me.
So, to end with a note of hope, I guess I would say that I am thankful for every experience I have had here at KU. While I would like to take some things back, I know that if I did I would not be the person I am today. Mistakes made me stronger. Obstacles built my character. Friends brightened my days.
With that said, I must turn back to my "Sound of Music" theme and say: "The sun has gone to bed and so must I. Goodbye."
A portrait of the artist as a young man. The picture on the left was taken during my freshmen year. The one on the right, this past summer. What a difference four years make.
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is bright. As I type this I only have eight school days left in my college career. Eight days, the off to the real world.
I use the term real world lightly because even though I have already secured a job at a newspaper after graduation, I will be moving into my parent's house for the summer until I save enough for a place of my own. So at the same time I have proved to myself I can succeeded in the real world, I will be living in the same I did before I left for college.
The irony is not lost on me but it something I do not put much stock in, for I am a different person than the boy who left that room four short years ago. I will be a college graduate. I will have a professional job. I will be an adult.
Now would be the natural point where I reflect on my college career and reminisce what I would have done differently had I the opportunity to time travel. Succinctly put, my answer is simple, nothing. I would not change one thing, because at this moment I am content with my position in life and if I changed something in the past there would be no guarantee I would be the same person.
I am not one for regret, instead believing everything I did in the past I enjoyed at the moment so why feel bad about it. I might have drunk too much, not studied enough, and chosen bad roommates; but, at this point it does not matter. I will walk down the Hill in eight days and the bad memories will fade away only to be replaced by the good ones.
When I told my dad that I was moving to California last summer for an internship, he replied by saying something I always knew, but that I never knew he realized.
"Look down at your feet little girl," he said.
I was completely confused. He wasn't even addressing the fact I just told him I was moving thousands
of miles away! "Huh!?!?" I said.
"You've never been a tree with any roots planted in the ground," he said.
I smiled and moved to California.
He was right. I love to go places, see new and exciting things, meet new people, and try risky things that sometimes even I know goes against my better judgement. (Last summer, I met these random British Airways pilots who let me copilot a plane to Catalina Island. THAT was one heck of scolding from my mom the next day.)
So that's just what I'm going to do… see the world. I am happy with my getting a degree in Broadcast Journalism. But the newsy side is definitely just not me, and that's just something I have come to realize. I love being on TV, and of course that would be my ultimate dream. I would love to be on The View and I hear they're hiring these days…
I hope to find a job in the Entertainment industry at a television show or station. Or I would totally take a job where I could travel around for a bit. And way, way, WAY in the future, when I retire, I'm buying both my husband and I Harleys so we can ride across the country. And if I've already seen everything here, I'll ride it across the border or take it overseas and drive through Europe. Oh yeah, and I also want to go to Australia. and Japan. and Africa.
But for now, my summer starts off with my running the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon on June 3rd. And then I'm moving to California at the end of the summer.
But first, I'm graduating in just… two weeks. (and the tears start streaming down.)
I'm only a couple of weeks away from being able to blast Alice Cooper's "School's Out" for the last time, a tradition I've kept since eighth grade. I'm graduating from college. Wow. I'll type that again, but in capital letters. I'M GRADUATING FROM COLLEGE.
As a last blogging hoo-rah, I've decided to recap the top three Journalism-related moments of my senior year:
1. Covering the men's NCAA basketball tournament
I had the opportunity to follow the Jayhawks across the country during the last few weeks of the season. My first trip was to Oklahoma City for the Big 12 Tournament. After KU had that championship under their belt, Drew Davison, Justin O'Neal and I made the drive to Chicago for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. It was one of most entertaining road trips I'd ever been a part of. An all-expenses paid trip to cover basketball and blog about my experiences in the city? I'll take it.
We (and by we, I mean Justin) drove all through the night back to Lawrence after the last game in Chi-town. I had about 36 hours to prepare for my next trip to San Jose, Ca. for KU's third- and fourth-round match-ups. We didn't make it to "Hotlanta," but it was still a heck of a trip.
Touchdown Nelson! We decided we needed to try the Mentos and Diet Coke experiement on the way home...at three in the morning in a Des Moines high school parking lot.
2. Sports Anchoring
I needed one more elective credit for the Spring '07 semester. I could have taken bowling or something, but sports anchoring sounded like a fun experience. As usual, I was right. I'll take my experiences as a KUJH sports anchor over the 150 bowling score I'd have by now any day. I befriended an awesome group of guys in my fellow anchors and our fearless leader, The Sharma. My work here also set me up for my top J-School moment of the year seen above.
3. 692 Reporting Shifts
I had a love-hate relationship with my 692 reporting shifts. I hated that I had the lecture at 8 a.m. and the shift started after it at 9:30. I hated that for the first month or so, it took me until 3:00 to finish a story. I hated the snow and cold rain I had to deal with since I took the class in the fall. I hated that I didn't have a parking permit, so I had to either bug other people for a ride to interview a source or walk 15 minutes home with a camera and a tripod to pick up my car.
However, the "good" kicked the "bad's" ass well enough to make this list. My producer was my good friend Pat Shehan. My reporting partner was DeJuan "Day-Wahn" Atway. After carefully considering whether or not my 692 reporting shifts would make this list, I considered the time Pat heard on the scanner that a bobcat was seen at 9th and Iowa.
"Pat, PLEASE let us chase that bobcat," I said.
So with Atway at the wheel, I shot video out of his car while we searched for a freakin' BOBCAT. We didn't find it, but we did follow animal control all the way back to their base.
I think that may have also been the day that Pat heard about a jailbreak on the scanner. He sent DeJuan and I to K-10 to check it out. There were flashing lights, but that was it.
What'd you do that day? Sit in class? Cool, I chased a bobcat and an escaped convict (who may have been riding the bobcat. We'll never know).
So I guess that's it. Good bye. I'll miss you. Cheesy, sappy, sad words. I'm out!
It's been quite the ride this semester, fair reader. We enjoyed some laughs, shared a little snark (which is actually less sloppy than it sounds), and sharpened our blogging chops along the way. Good times.
Can someone PLEASE cue that "One Shining Moment" song? Even though I generally don't like things that remind me of Billy Packer, I feel that could offer a suitable, slightly syrupy soundtrack for the occasion: flash images of Coach Musser standing over our shoulder with a wry, knowing smile as we hammer out blog entries...there's some serious montage potential here.
For the past week, I've been carefully assembling various "Top Five" and "Top 10" lists of books, music, movies and YouTube videos that I would recommend to others for my farewell post, but I'm not really feelin' it right now.
"It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" Photo: Boyz II Men
I have no grand pronouncements on how anyone else should live their life. Like Jimi Hendrix reminds us, "I'm the one that's gonna die when its time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to."
Most recommendations I have are interesting but irrelevant, so why bother?
Life is a lot simpler, a lot more meaningful and a lot more fun if you can look squarely in the mirror and genuinely enjoy your job. Work for yourself, not someone else. The greatest trick in life is finding a way to get paid to do something you'd normally do for free.
So what will I be doing with my time after I'm outta here? Doing something for free that most people would get paid for: an internship at a sweatshop in New York. (See, I'm already ignoring my own advice). I'll be there from September through December, before heading back here to finish things up next May. After that, I'll probably be picking up tin cans in the park and hosting improvised sermons on street corners for loose change.
There's an Irish proverb that seems fitting here: "There's no need to fear the wind if your haystacks are tied down." These kids are all right. It'll be interesting to watch the upcoming years unfold. Perhaps most importantly, as you travel along the vicious Autobahn of life, bear in mind that there is not a shred of evidence that exists for the proposition that life is meant to be taken seriously. Relax and have fun, or else we've already lost. "So it goes."
I've quoted more people in this final post than an angst-ridden high school senior at graduation, so I'll close with my own bit of advice: Treat every person like they'll be writing your obituary – the view is much better when you take the high road.
...and with that, I'm outta here like a fat girl in dodgeball.
Last week, two girl friends and I went to The Hawk for a couple of drinks. Yes, it's a freshman bar- anyone with a revealing shirt and an ID can get in. But its one of our favorites. While we all squeezed into a single bathroom- you know girls can't go alone, we heard the girls waiting outside complain, "Jeeze what is taking so long. They are like 25."
Now, I'm not exactly sure if being 25 has anything to do with being slow in the bathroom but the fact they thought we were graduated shocked us (we still had a few days left before graduation and are only 22!). And suddenly, we felt old.
Graduation- bring it on!" Photo: Ability Center
Today, I think about it. I am the oldest of 18 cousins, which means I'm the first to graduate from college. Besides my graduation, this summer two kids turn 21, one turns 16, one graduates from high school and two graduate from eighth grade.
I remember hitting all these milestones in my life: receiving an eighth grade diploma, getting a drivers license at 16, receiving a high school diploma and getting drunk at 21. Now, I am back to getting a diploma and I wonder what comes next.
My cousins don't know because they look at me for answers. I look at my parents and it seems to go: work, marriage, mortgage, kids, debt.
So, I conclude, receiving a diploma and graduating is a gateway to the next phase of your life. This graduation has me looking towards more realistic goals, like finding a job and a place to live instead of getting a car and taking 21 shots. But that comes from maturity.
By the way, last week, before leaving the bathroom to dance in the "boom boom" room, my friends and I stole the loudmouth's fake ID, while she threw up in the bathroom.
I remember when I was younger, I answered the phone one evening at my house. I was always instructed to do so when there were calls at this time, because it was pretty much guaranteed to be a telemarketer. I was instructed to say the famous line "My dad can't come to the phone right now." I answered only to hear a long, obviously scripted speech about how it was time to renew my subscription to The Wall Street Journal. Being 8, and not knowing what The Wall Street Journal was, I just interrupted with my line and hung up.
Anytime I am home now, my parents no longer get these calls, because they are on the "no call list," a list that Jay Hancock, Baltimore Sun writer, said is killing newspaper subscriptions. No longer are people hassled with these phone calls that my dad so adamantly refused to answer. Also, my dad would probably not care to get this offer now, since he reads The Journal online for 79 bucks a year. He is no exception to the way things are going in the newspaper world.
All I have to do to see a ton of newspapers all around the world is log onto sites like Newspapers 24.com and PRESTO! I have information at my finger tips. Also, if I want to read an article that I cannot view on the paper's site, I just google it and, PRESTO! It shows up. Someone, somewhere reposts newspaper articles for my reading pleasure, and I don't have to break the bank in doing so.
So are old fashioned newspapers obsolete? For the time being I think they are here to stay. But the future looks grim. According to an article by Vin Crosbie at USC, online news is the future. "Research in 1985 by Philip Meyer, a journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discovered that the newspaper reading habits that people develop in their 20s stick with them as they age," said Crosbie. I know that I currently read online(free) articles more than I read newspapers themselves. So if Philip Meyer's research is true, my generation will not be picking up the latest copy of The New York Times on the way to work, but instead they will be surfing the net to find the latest news.
I do not think newspapers will exactly be making millions by posting content on their Web sites and charging people to view it. For one thing, I am sure that advertising clients are not exactly gung ho about the fact that one can bypass ad content with the click of the mouse.
Also, I do not think the public is ready to pay to view news online. According to another article by Vin Crosbie in which he researched the financial successes of online news he stated that after researching and interviewing papers that have implemented an online subscription "Hardly any of these executives are willing to talk for the record, but all were rather candid about how they have induced only between 0.25 and 1.25 percent of their unique users to pay for access to traditional content." This does not exactly scream success!
So how will newspapers stay afloat in the online/offline purgatory in which they are leaning toward? I think the readers will determine which way will be successful, but for now, off to Google I go!
Will Ferrell is making all sorts of headlines. He recently topped the list in a Peeps marshmallow candies' survey that asked, "If Peeps came to life, what male public person or celebrity might it become." Ha!
He's also making news with his transitions from the small screen to the big screen and, most recently, to the computer screen. Ferrell and pal, writer/director Adam McKay, published their first short-film on FunnyorDie.com, a Web site they created for publishing their short-form ideas and showcasing lesser-known filmmakers.
Will Ferrell in his famous SNL Blue Oyster Cult skit, "I gotta have more cowbell!" Photo: Wikipedia
The first video they produced, "The Landlord," stars Ferrell and a dirty-mouthed 2-year-old, playing an angry landlord. The kid is McKay's daughter- he is also featured in the short. The unprofessional but hilarious video took 45 minutes to make and has a running time of two minutes. In the last month, it has received almost 20 million hits.
The video was released on the heels of Ferrell's newest movie, but in a Los Angeles Times article, McKay says it was made for fun and not publicity for Ferrell's film.
Visitors of the site view and vote on videos, deciding if they're funny or will "die a fiery death." According to the site, "Videos that get enough die votes go to the crypt where they languish in comedy hell. But ones that reach immortal status shall make people laugh forever (even ten thousand years from now when mankind becomes floating orbs of energy. If they can laugh, those future orbs will be laughing at your video)."
This Web site is a total smash, incorporating the personality and tone of every Ferrell movie and giving other aspiring comics an opportunity to share their work. Ferrell's site is definitely something I will check out on a regular basis- I love him from "Elf" and his old SNL days ("I drive a Dodge Stratus!"). I don't think this kind of Web participation would work for every actor and I really hope random movie stars don't start creating videos to promote themselves and their projects.
Though I'm not sure if I can see him as a Peeps pink marshmallow bunny (okay, actually I wouldn't be surprised), a comedy viral video site is the perfect niche for Ferrell to fill.
Newspaper circulation continues to be on the decline however, charging for online content is not the solution. Besides the obvious technological obstacles to charging online, it decreases the readership of online content.
One might ask "what are the technological obstacles to charging for online content?" Well it is almost impossible to make EVERYONE pay for online content. For instance, this article, originally published on New York Times Plus, can be found by just typing in the article name on Google. One way or another, most articles in paid online subscriptions end up on another site. Take this from a poor college student, who along with everyone else presently in the multimedia newsroom, has found an article this way for a class.
Secondly, online newspaper subscriptions don't work because they decrease readership. Let's face it, people don't like to pay to read! If they did, the library would charge you to check out books like Blockbuster! I am a sports fanatic but I refuse to subscribe to ESPN.com's "insider" to get the best sports coverage. I enjoy reading but not enough to pay for everyday news and analysis.
There is no doubt the the downward trend newspaper circulation needs to be fixed but charging for online content is not the solution. Instead, as stated in the article above, newspapers need to apply for a waiver from the DO NOT CALL list and go back to basics.
