Recently in Life outside the newsroom Category

During my J500 Media and the Environment class  we learned a lot about urban farming.

We each were assigned a farmer to create a blog about and we also had to help on a podcast.

Talking with Ericka Wright about her farm, the Troostwood Youth Garden showed me that urban farming was all about adaptation. Her neighborhood has very little fresh food around and a lot of youth. She decided to start a garden in her own yard to feed her community and help educate the kids.

This is what journalism needs to do.

Adapt. Find new ways to present information. Become better at everything.

For a while I just considered myself a photographer. Then after working at the Kansan I considered myself a photojournalist. Now after learning about blogging, copy editing, video editing, dreamweaver, fireworks and podcasts I have the confidence to say that I am a journalist and I am proud.

I am the future of journalism. Adaptation and learning a little bit of everything

Right now, I have no words. What I mean is, I am so weary of discussing the "future of journalism" that I doubt I have anything interesting left to say about the topic.
I have gabbed about what makes a journalist, who shouldn't be a journalist, how to monetize Web space through advertising, whether we'll have jobs when we get out of here, and

bla                           bla                             bla

Why am I so cynical? Because I know that I do not and cannot know the answers to these things.

This reminds me of the time a breaking news story happened on a Friday morning and nobody knew the scoop. Oh, wait. That was this morning. A person allegedly fell from the top of Naismith and died. That is all we know, besides that it was a male. All of us are asking questions because that's what we do. We are journalists. We speculate, formulate, investigate. But do we really know what's going to happen? NO!

Don't get me wrong. There is great value in speculation and formulation and of course, investigation when possible. But there is no certainty, no solidity in our speculation. So, lately, I've been pretty tired of "the future." I don't know what job or internship offer I will have received (or not) in a year and I don't know what the next new thing will be.

Beyond speculating about the possibilities and making myself the best product for tomorrow, I am tired of the future for now. I am choosing, right now, to live in the present for the rest of the semester and this summer at my internship.

Tomorrow, my sentiments may change and I may be up for a lively conversation on digi-newspapers, Flitter, Clutter, and the next new thingy. But for now, I'm content not knowing. As they say, ignorance is bliss.

For the Easter holiday I went home to celebrate the religious holiday with my family.  We have always gone to church on Easter morning so I went with my parents to First Lutheran Church in Paola.  After the service, I got the opportunity to visit with my kindergarten through fourth grade teacher whom I hadn't seen in quite some time.  It was great to see so many people who knew me as a child or teenager and tell them all of the things I have accomplished and that I am about to graduate from the University of Kansas.  We would reminisce about memories throughout the years and laugh.  It was a refreshing and fun Easter morning.

 

When we got home from church my mom started making an amazing Easter lunch and preparing for her extended family to arrive.  My brother, his wife and their three children arrived early and eager to hunt Easter eggs.  The day before I had spent my afternoon coloring Easter eggs with my nephews and they were so excited for the Easter bunny to arrive.  We had a really nice lunch and by the end of lunch the boys were tugging at my shirt asking when the Easter bunny would bring them Easter eggs.  Since it was raining I told them the Easter bunny would only come to the house if they went upstairs to read a book with Nana Kathy and were on their best behavior.  So after much convincing they boys reluctantly followed my mom upstairs to read books.  As soon as they were settled upstairs my brother and I scattered the eggs around my parent's house.  When we had hid all of the eggs I went upstairs to tell the boys the Easter bunny had snuck inside the house to get out of the rain and left eggs scattered all over downstairs.  The boys were so excited that whenever my two and half year old nephew, Isaac, would find an egg he would yell, "I found another one!"  After the boys had collected all the eggs my oldest nephew, Logan, said, "You know, I just don't know why the Easter bunny doesn't hide the eggs any better?"  It was an adorable question because you can tell how genuine and sincere he was.  I just told him that the Easter bunny took it easy on them so his little brother could find some eggs too.  It was such a fun, relaxing day with lots of laughs and memories.

During all the crazy Student Senate election happenings, a student has to have a haven, a hideaway, on campus. For me, Stauffer Flint Hall, home to the KU School of Journalism, is that place.
Although it's the hub of campus news and information, most of the people here are concerned with and committed to providing unbiased information to the student body. We aren't politicians. We're journalists.
That doesn't mean we don't have our own opinions. In fact, journalists often have some of the most rooted, firm and passionate opinions of anyone because they are "in the know" and stay abreast of the news. But it's not our job to tell you what we think or why you should think this or that way.
It's our job to inform, to be trusted sources of information and to keep our mouths shut. This is often a difficult task, and let's just be honest -- between journalists, we do discuss our opinions. But it's vital that we remain balanced in our reporting of the news.

This is why Stauffer Flint is my shelter from the wicked hatred (exaggeration) and Greeks v. Greeks, Greeks v. GDI, Greeks v. Everybody controversies (not an exaggeration).

The excitement and fear of graduation approaching faster than expected is really starting to become a reality.  I can't wait till graduation day when I get to walk down the hill towards the graduation commencement.  With all this excitement building up I also have that twinge of fear of not having a job after graduation.  I would love to tell family and friends at graduation that I have a job all lined up after graduation but unfortunately at this time I don't.  It would definitely make celebrating graduation a lot less stressful and more exciting if I had a job afterwards.  However, job or no job it will still be exciting to tell people I have a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Kansas' distinguished William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications.  It is also a sense of pride and quite an accomplishment because I will be the first in my family to receive a four year degree.  I am extremely proud to very soon be a first generation college graduate.  I know my family is just as excited as I am and that means a lot to me to hear how happy they are for me.  So in order to get this far there are a few important things you have to remember along the way and the path can get a little fuzzy sometimes...especially with a tough course load. 

            So as a guide for graduation:

1.      Sign up for graduation on enroll and pay.

2.      Decide how you want to receive your diploma on enroll and pay.

3.      Go to the graduation fair

·      Purchase tassel

·      Rent or purchase a cap and gown

·      Visit numerous stands to explore other graduation materials and benefits

4.      SHOW UP for graduation!

 

What took the University of Kansas so long to send students an email in regards to traveling safely over Spring Break?  Especially if their travels took them to Mexico.  Numerous universities, like Colorado State University sent out campus-wide emails to inform its students of the dangers in Mexico over the last couple of months.  However, the University of Kansas did not send out an email to its students until March 9.  I appreciate the fact the university even sent out an email but it would have been more beneficial to the K.U. students had it been sent out earlier.

 

 The U.S. Department of State renewed a travel advisory for Americans traveling into Mexico, whether that is by land, air or sea.  The advisory comes as a warning to students to ensure they realize the increase in crime in Mexico as many college students travel to popular destinations in Mexico for Spring Break.  The dangers in Mexico have included shootings, violent attacks and shoot outs, which can be traced back to the drug cartels.  Although these dangers seem to be in more towards the boarder towns and on the roads at night, college students need to be aware of what is going on around them for their own safety. 

 

The University of Arizona warned its students to be extra careful if they were traveling to Mexico during Spring Break back in February, while Arizona State University in Tempe and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff at that time mentioned they too would release an advisory to its students.  This is where the disconnect is.  What took K.U. so long to advise its students about traveling to Mexico?  Maybe if the advisory was sent earlier students would change their minds about traveling to Mexico or at least make sure they were going with a larger group of friends.  Then again maybe it would have no effect.  I just think it was poor planning by the university to not release an advisory to our campus until a week before Spring Break when other universities were advising and warning their students all the way back in February. Even the Arizona Republic was writing stories back in February about the dangers of students traveling to Mexico and advising them to avoid vacationing there for Spring Break.  What took the K.U. community so long for a warning?

Haley  is right. Internships are disappearing. I'm spending most of my free time looking for internships and applying for whatever I can. Flash is incredible and I want to work with it more so I can get better at it.

My brother Walker owns WORK, an art gallery in New York City. Today is I Heart Art, a collaborative show with The Wassaic Project. My mom and I both have work in the show. I have a photograph and my mom has a felt bag she made.



A few hours ago I got a text message from my brother Kansas saying that my photo was sold. I'm super excited because I want to eventually move to New York to live near my brothers, sister and niece. This gives me hope that maybe If I work really hard I can make it.

Today has been a very productive day and it's only 12:30.

Across the country, people are questioning Nadya Suleman's intentions after giving birth to octuplets on January 26 through in vitro fertilization.   The octuplets give Ms. Suleman 14 children under the age of seven. 

 

From the newspaper articles I have read, it seems Ms. Suleman overdid herself.  I respect that she and her octuplets have made history but I cannot commend her decision.  Ms. Suleman, a single mother, already has six children ranging from the age of two to seven and seems to have no current job.  This leads me to wonder whether or not Ms. Suleman is capable of physically and financially, raising 14 children on her own. 

 

I am afraid that Ms. Suleman will throw her children into the lime light of the media, with the ulterior motive to make money off of the history making births.  She has already had numerous offers from media outlets for financial compensation.  I don't think it is right for Ms. Suleman to expose her newborn octuplets to the media for a pretty penny.  If she exposes her newborns it should be to show doctors, fertility specialists and other medical professionals her miracle of eight healthy babies. 

 

I also question the ethics of having so many embryos implanted.  First of all, Ms. Suleman's ethics.  She had the chance for selective reduction but refused to do so and even again when they were fetuses.  Ms. Suleman defied the chance to decrease the health risks for herself and for the embryos that were implanted.  Secondly, the fertility doctor's ethics to implant so many embryos is shameful.  A woman on welfare that already has six children does not need eight more.  Further, wouldn't it be deemed too risky to implant so many embryos in a woman in Ms. Suleman's state of being?  Ms. Suleman and the doctors involved were both radically unethical.  I am no doctor, but it makes me wonder if the fame and glory of octuplets got in the way of both parties sound ethical judgment.

 

Many questions circle around in my head but a very important one is: did Ms. Suleman ever consider the amount of money it would cost not only to raise the children but to just give birth to them through a Caesarean section and then the remaining hospital bills?  The people of California and America will be paying for Ms. Suleman's children.  Doctors will have to watch the octuplets for health complications, both physically and mentally.  The hospital bills will run between $1.5 to $3 million.  If the studies about the cost of raising children are correct, raising one child to adulthood costs $2.5 million. What if the octuplets turn out to have serious health problems and are in and out of hospitals for the rest of their lives?  If the octuplets do happen to have health problems, how will Ms. Suleman afford the medical bills?  How can Ms. Suleman live with herself knowing the risk of giving birth to octuplets is astronomical?  Both Ms. Suleman and her doctors should be ashamed.