stories that warm the heart

I am currently doing some work for the St. Joseph Leader. Its a small, weekly paper in the Central Illinois area. One of the few weekly newspapers that is still left.

I have been given a story to work on dealing with the Oakland community.

Although I like investigative journalism as much as anyone else, this is one that comes straight from the heart.

The local American Legion is asking for names of active duty soldiers to put on street signs.

Many wouldn't see this as any sort of ground-breaking story. I, however, love stories like this. Stories that have any kind of feature angle that make one feel good. Reporting on all the bad stuff is good and necessary. However, it is nice to have a story to tell that doesn't involve someone being victimized by another.

I understand the reason for writing the stories that have been deemed 'gotcha journalism.' I am a huge fan of those stories for their own merit. Many times something is exposed that the general public has a need to know about.

Those are the stories that I, one day, hope I can help uncover.

Right now though, I will take my feel good pieces. They help me remember that, in all the stress of daily life, good still exists in the world. Sometimes this can be hard to remember.

What type of news do you prefer to hear about?

The loveliness of the language

I don't characterize myself to know everything about grammar.

I'm sure plenty know more than me about spelling and grammar combined.

However, it is amazing how proper grammar hits my ear just right.

Our society hasn't deemed it important to know grammar. Our importance is with knowing who has most recently updated their twitter pages. Also, the shortest way to get the point across through a text message. The days of letter writing seem to be long gone.

It appears, at some point, our society has lost a grip on grammar.

I can illustrate this fact with a recent job I took on. A friend of mine recently sent me a short story that she wrote. She was simply looking for content feedback. Plus, she wanted someone else, that she trusted, to read it.

After not being that long into reading it, I knew I would take on a greater job. I decided to edit it. This was a two-part decision. First, I figured it would be something that she would really love. Next, I figured I could brush up on my editing skills that had lied dormant for a little while.

I would, in no way, shape or form, characterize my friend as unintelligent. She graduated from college with honors. She also has a wealth of 'street smarts.' I'm not sure at what point or why, but grammar was never a high importance.

In my experience, it would seem she is in the majority.

I find this odd, simply for the fact that basic communication skills are a way of survival. I also find it odd, that some common misspellings aren't always noticed by everyone. It is as though we've gotten used to them.

I, personally, aim to be as correct as I can with my grammar and spelling. By no means am I perfect. I just want to emphasize this in my daily life.

As for editing her story? It drew an odd sense of purpose and passion from me. I truly loved editing it. The content was pretty good at keeping my focus, though. I'm not sure if that made it easier to edit or not. Nonetheless, I enjoyed editing it.

What is news today?

As a young journalism student, I learned the values of news under direction of Ms. Sally Turner. We learned six things that makes something in public discourse newsworthy.

One of those items was the person involved in the story. For example, nearly everything Barack Obama does is considered newsworthy because he is the President of the United States.

It seems that line has become blurred today.

I have no problem with people like Paris Hilton or Kate Gosselin getting news coverage. I would just prefer it be in their own venue.

I don't enjoy seemingly continuous celebrity coverage on places like CNN.

The news of Tiger Woods' return to golf after his martial issues is newsworthy. However, I don't think it deserved enough coverage to out-shadow the death of the Polish president. Even though thats precisely what it did.

Admittedly, I have my moments in which I want to escape into celebrity news. That is what I consider that type of information: escapism. I don't base my life on who wore what or who is dating whom. It can just be fun sometimes.

When seeking out the information, I turn to E! News or what not.

However, I do not turn to CNN to find out this information. Yet, that is what is happening more and more.

Remember what happened when Micheal Jackson died?

I completely understand giving him coverage. He was, after all, the King of Pop. No other person could match his contributions to the art in the modern day. But after respects were paid, coverage couldn't seem to cease. Hard news journalists repeated the same information for a week straight with nothing new to report. This seemed to blur the lines of newsworthy and not newsworthy.

I can't help but wonder: Why such the obsession with celebritydom?

Many reports have come out saying that such obsession is bad for us, psychologically. It supports physical ideals that are unattainable, thus bad body images. It distracts us from taking care of our lively problems. It can promote debt to keep up with an image.

Those are just a few of the things I remember reading about obsession with celebritydom.

What do you think about what is news? What do you think about celebrities?

A conundrum in the journalism world

To those that know me, it's no secret that I've been working with the Wal-Mart corporation for a little bit now. What once served as a way to get me through college is becoming something thats feeding my bills while I search for the job I actually want.

I would love to be in the newsroom environment everyday. For a combination of reasons, that hasn't quite happened quite yet. I firmly believe that when the correct time comes and the stars align themselves, I will attain the job I desire.

For the moment, I am trying to find various ways to break into the field.

This concept, however, is not the point of this blog in particular.

The point is the power that journalists once held. Journalists were once considered a fourth estate of the government. Now, access seems slightly more limited.

I thought of this notion while at work on Thursday.I was informed by several people that the Champaign Wal-Mart (I work at the one in Urbana) had small fire issue and had to evacuate.

It was nothing more than lightening striking just the right place and creating a little bit of smoke. With the hint of smoke, possibility of fire was presumed and thus the evacuation.

No one was harmed by the lightening strike, and it wasn't long before the store was back to business as usual.

I,however, began to ponder what would've happened in the case that something bigger did happen. Also, what would've happened had that happened and the local papers come knocking/calling.

I'm not sure what events put the policy in place, but no one in the store would be allowed to make any comments to the reporters. The Home Office would have to be called and spoken to and then only the possibility of anyone in the store speaking to reporters could exist.

To me, this seems like a small freedom of speech violation. I doubt (I hope) the company would go so far as firing someone who talked to a member of the press. Especially if it was a strictly just the facts situation. I could understand the notion more so (although it doesn't mean I necessarily support it)if the member of the Wal-Mart team went to the press with criticism or sensitive information.

Not only is this a battle for employees, but a battle for journalists. How are journalists supposed to be watchdogs and question the government if those governed aren't allowed to? By no means do I think the American public have their speech limited. Otherwise we wouldn't have the Tea Party and the alike.

I'm merely suggesting less information is being allowed out to the public. I definitely don't see this as a positive.

What do you think? Do you have similar stories?

I cannot believe we are still fighting this fight

Click Here

I found this story on CNN this morning, and my link is obviously from Yahoo News.

In my mind, I am shocked that a fight like this still exists. I thought several health and psychological studies, along with sociological work had already found what works better.

I guess the argument will still loom.

The opponents that wish for abstinence-only education are signaling the long-time battle cry that the less teenagers know, the better for them.

I cannot help but wonder what thoughts these people hold for information coming from our government. Sure, it may be a thought coming completely from left field. I'll admit that. I, however, am not of the belief that ignorance is bliss. I believe that knowledge is power. I would love for the citizens to know all the workings of the government to better exercise their votes. This is, without censorship and all of that.

I feel a similar concept applies here. Teenagers typically want to test a variety of boundaries, especially when told 'no.' When told no repeatedly, it only makes them want the action more, in combination with raging hormones. Knowledge would clear up misconceptions and myths about sex that consume the teenage mind. The knowledge promotes smarter action.

I could understand the hesitance if teachers were crossing levels of education, such as going so far as discussing sexual positions. This is rarely the case for a sexual education course.

I grew up in an environment that promoted knowledge. My twin brother and I received condoms from our parents on our 16th birthday. This 'present' followed the notion that they would rather us wait for sexual activity until marriage. However, they realize that things can happen and would rather us be safe than sorry.

I would rather the greater America be safe than sorry. Schools and parents must work together to make sure kids are getting all the knowledge they need. Some homes are not as informative as the one I came from. Kids need to learn one way or another about safe sex practices. Just telling them to wait will not do the trick. It will only stir curiosity. An expanded curriculum gives them power.

Welcome to the Blog

Hello to my fellow writers and journalists.

I've recently realized that I have had something missing in my life as of late: writing.

While I was a student at Eastern Illinois University, working at the student newspaper kept me going. I had an outlet for my vision and creativity. I was also allowed to explore a variety of things that were new to me including design and podcasting.

I've yet to be able to make my way into a journalism career. I would love for that to be in writing and editing, although public relations isn't looking too shabby either.

I am starting this blog as a way to get back to my roots. I need to keep writing more and more to feel whole. I need my creativity expressed.

I plan to use this blog to discuss issues in journalism and current events. I like feature work because I feel as though it gets at the heart of the story. The subject is allowed to truly shine.

I may also post some poetry from time to time, as I have not written very much lately.

I am also willing to take your suggestions for anything you'd like me to write about.