write. travel. live.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ~Margaret MeadeTeamwork. The greatest of groups have either survived or failed because the of the efforts of the members to work together. As one team.This is what I believe makes for a successful newspaper as well. At least, this is one of the things. Working at The Patriot, I have witnessed teamwork in action. Sure, there are times when one or two pull the weight more so than anyone else, but later the situations are often reversed. That's what makes a good team. Being able to help your coworker out and carry some of their load when things are too heavy for them. Because in the end, it doesn't matter who did what job, what matters is that the job is finished.Or, in our case, the paper is out. This is something that I believe Kaitlin, and the rest of us executive staff, have been able to achieve this year. We finally found our pattern and method. …

Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. ~Winston Churchill
Last week, I was referred to as selfish. I think that was the first time that I can truly remember someone telling me that to my face. And it stung. Perhaps I was being selfish, perhaps I wasn't, but that's the way he perceived it. And as I have learned many times over the past four years in my journalism and communication classes, it doesn't really matter what message you are sending in the world of media. What matters is the audience reception of it. Not to mention, he was a prospective employer. Meaning that he was correct in his judgement. I may not agree with his assessment of me, but I'll admit that he was justified in making it. I even see how he could have taken my actions as being selfish. The irony is, I wasn't trying to be selfish. I was trying to think of a way to not be selfish …

All our dreams can come true,
if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney We all have those dream jobs. The ones we think we could never have in a million years that we ponder on as teenagers or young college students. At the top of my list would have to be a job where I get to write, photograph and travel and it's all paid for. Another one of those top-of-the-list jobs would be working with CNN. Fingers crossed, that might actually happen for me. Last month, I applied for a CNN summer internship. It's not paid or anything, but it's CNN. That alone would pay for itself later on. It could lead to a job in the company or probably open the doors to other jobs. To me, a job with CNN (or even certain other reputable news organizations like it) would be like the best thing for a journalist. After all, they are "the most trusted name in news." So, last week, I had my first interview. To be honest, I was really nervous. See, my future plans are rather vague. I'm sti…

There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave. ~Dale Carnegie

So I hate giving speeches, a fact which is well-known to those who happen to be around when I discover that I have to.

However, I want to graduate and in order to that, I must give five speeches about something in the field of journalism for my internship course. Here it was, presentation number four.

This time, I was given the opportunity to speak in an insights class to some of the international students. The topic of the class was ways for students to get involved in campus activities and featured people from various campus groups. I, of course, was speaking on the newspaper and how they could join the staff.

Despite my fears and expectations, it seemed to go pretty well. The group was receptive and friendly and I even stayed and participated in some of their games!

I'm not saying that this will convince any of these students to …

When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world. ~Author Unknown

Much of my posts lately have been about change. Life changing before me, mainly. Last week, I wrote about taking a chance and creating change. After that post, I met Ms. Connie Howard.
For a little while now, we in the newspaper office had been throwing around the idea of profiling Howard and how we wanted to do a feature on her. So, I volunteered to write the piece, thinking it …