Category: journalism

Stuff having to do with the world of journalism.

A New Year

smalltownhumanbeingLeave a comment

2020 has come to an end and with that, we start a new year, but many of us end the new year with unrealistic resolutions for the upcoming three hundred sixty-five days of our lives. Many create these resolutions of bettering our self-image or collecting wealth, but they rarely ever have to do with internal and external happiness or satisfaction. We live in a materialistic world, where we so often forget the real importance of life.

In this upcoming year, I want to look for happiness, rather than setting an unachievable or unrealistic resolution. I want to set a goal of looking for things of beauty every day, finding my own self-worth, living out every day to the fullest, surrounding my life with good, positive people and things, because, most importantly, being content with yourself as you are will make life more enjoyable.

I do not only want to go into 2021 with this mindset, but every year following this one. To continue the search for happiness and self love, finding the beauty in little things, living life to the fullest, and finding the people that help fill those goals, because in the end you are in charge of how you live your own life.

Photo credit: pinterest.com

Fire

icaruswithwarmwingsLeave a comment

I

The leaves rustle gently at first,

barely moving in the otherwise stagnant air.

But the wind comes, and will come again. 

Every year.

II

It’s eerily warm when

the hearty Santa Ana winds,

the december gusts, come 

to breathe full of life

limbs of dry straw.

Shrubbery sings with that transient weight;

shrubbery that won’t be here tomorrow.

III

Before the door could be closed

a delicate leaf let itself in.

Frail, yellow, brittle.

Winter boots shatter it; 

the shards driven into

the green carpet.

IV

Autumn came when no one was looking, quiet and still, 

but Winter knocked on the door.

Warm winds; loose leaves;

oak and sycamore;

helpless faces;

unpacked clothes strewn, full of life,

on the floor.

V

Fires often blow through on winds like these,

—the threat, toothsome and tangible—

but even as the wind whips

and the sparse clouds hurry across the sky,

cruel circumstance sits suspended in hot heavy air.

VI

Heavy walls went like cardboard 

big weight bearing beams became matchsticks

that snap between fat flaming fingers

recollection ripped out of picture frames

folders full of ash

crumpled filing cabinets

and melted metal memories 

a world engulfed

in wind

in the night

in warm welling eyes

in the sweltering night.

VII

Gnawing on the bones

baying at the hunt

howling in the wind

a hound of three heads sicced 

uncontrollable 

delighting in the chaos 

in pandemonium’s wild embrace.

VIII

silence settled,

the land rested.

no fireman’s boots,

no tennis shoes,

no cars,

no buildings,

no birds.

Just cold black earth,

warm embers,

warm breeze.

IX

Green growth sparsely populates the scorched earth.

Grasses, gaining ground.

But deep in the center the blackness still sits.

Telling you things are not as they once were,

Succession is a process, aching and raw;

but nothing could be so delicate and pure

as the inkling of new life

among black expanse.

X

These winds will whip 

hearts to attention

for years to come.

From: KPCC

A year like no other—2020 in review

icaruswithwarmwingsLeave a comment

in shuttering silence

happiness is fleeting

buoyancy is turbulent 

and the grey world deteriorates

breath is belabored

and the periphery begins to seep in

the color is fading fast 

fast

faster still than hot flames

the fury and the fire in the center

burns has burned and will burn

hot

hotter than before

but still it burns through its fuel

and the sides still fall away than the center can build back

better to be honest 

better to be free

better to seek the middle even as the edges fray

better to worry about the now than lose hope in the future

as the color fades into gray

Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times

The notebook

brachiosaurus15Leave a comment

I recently watched the notebook with my friend, we will call him John for now. So my friend John practically begged me to watch the notebook, and I agreed and give him the normal run down. I warned him that he will absolutely cry. So we get to the part in the movie where Noah and Allie are LITERALLY in the rain in the boat. She’s about to find out he wrote her 365 letters and that he still loves her. I’m sitting there stuffing my face with popcorn, and I start to hear the sound of logs being sawed. John is snoring. He has the audacity to fall asleep. So I do the thing any dedicated notebook fan would do and I pushed him off of the couch. The movie continues and we are at the end where they die together and I am crying, ugly crying. And I look over and John is asleep AGAIN! I asked him how he liked the movie the next day and he said that it was “alright”. And that is the story about how I stopped being friends with John.

Image found on Pinterest


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For Africa

currychickenloveLeave a comment

In about three weeks, I will finally return back to my second home: the Masai Mara in Kenya, Africa. This will be my fourth time visiting the Mara and I am more than excited. While I am there, I will work on a big project for school; working with different wildlife conservation organizations as well as Park rangers that wander the park every day in search of poaching traps. The work these rangers do is incredible. They dedicate their whole life to the park and the animals that live there. I and so many other people are incredibly thankful for the work they do. Without them, the parks wouldn’t work the way they do.

But also, tourism is a very big part that makes these parks work. Many people are not happy with tourism in these wild parks and think that tourism should be completely banned. I do agree that sometimes tourism in the parks can be overwhelming, but it is such an incredibly big and necessary part of Africa. Without tourism, rangers would not be able to save the animals from poaching because the park would have no money to pay the rangers anymore. So many people would lose their jobs, and the animals would lose the protection they have from poachers. Tourism is a big and vital part of these parks.

When COVID hit, and traveling was shut down, these parks suffered immensely. The poaching numbers rose into the sky and many lost their jobs. A lot of photographers as well as myself donated money to an organization called “prints for wildlife”. This organization collected prints from hundreds of different small and well-known photographers in order to raise money to send to these parks. They were able to raise $660,200 in just one month. It was absolutely incredible to see so many photographers work together to save what they love most.

pictures by: https://www.printsforwildlife.org

Windows Down

smalltownhumanbeingLeave a comment

Although the air is frigged on this winter night, we drive around blasting music with the windows down.

Why one may ask?

Because sometimes there’s no purer form of joy than singing your favorite songs with two of your favorite people.

In that moment, all your fears and worries fly out the open window and you are living in the moment, watching two people sing and smile with every word that leaves their mouth.

This is one of the moments that you would replay over and over again when you rest your head on the pillow for nights to come.

I would not trade the little moments like this for anything.

So the simple answer to why we drive around with the windows down on a frigged winter night is simply for the joy of it, because in the end, you only have once chance to make memories like this with the ones you love.

Photo credit: https://www.pinterest.com/

Digital Theatre

pinkcube18Leave a comment

It’s a new experience rehearsing for a play over the computer. While I know that the performance will be online, most people are together on campus to practice. Doing actors’ warm ups on the camera can put you out of sync with the rest of the people.

The audition process involves reviewing lines and practicing songs. We spend every LEAP meeting up to try out different roles and songs.

I can’t wait for the day when I am back on campus working with my peers to put together a great performance. Although we will be filming separately, we can spend our rehearsal time practicing together (socially distanced, of course).

The performance will be different this year, but we now have a new medium to experiment and see what things we can do. We have digital effects and the blessing of a “retake.” We will work on our own sets and costumes as we navigate through this new experience.

Image Credit: Lucy Kozey

Bonfire

smalltownhumanbeingLeave a comment

There is something about sitting around a blazing bonfire on a chilly November Friday night with some of your closest friends. It is the smell of the moist wood creating a cloud of smoke that lingers in the frosty air around you. It is the sound of your favorite people, laughing and singing along to old country music tunes in the background. It is sitting close to the people around you to stay warm and to keep the cold from settling on you.

Everything about sitting around a bonfire brings peace to me. It is quite funny how such a simple moment can bring me so much joy. I find myself thinking about it throughout the week, looking forward to when the sunsets at the end of the week, bringing the blaze to cuddle up around and catch up with the same amazing people as I do every week.

After the night is over and I drive back home with the heater on high, and I reminisce on the night and feel the smile that still remains on my face. The smell of smoke and warmth remains on my jacket and hair and reminds me of the fun memories shared from the night around the bonfire…

Photo credit: farmersalmanac.com

A Cold Ocean’s Call

icaruswithwarmwingsLeave a comment

it was bitter and cold 

in the great green pacific.

and the warmth crawled out from my bones

as the words in my head slowed their swirling.

instead of going with them,

there I would sit 

socks in the sand

I kept high and dry

Always away from that wet;

I hadn’t yet felt it’s unavoidable pull

that siren’s song.

I hadn’t let the cold seep in,

I hadn’t plunged into the ocean,

But I would.

The ocean begs for our attention

it begs for big words

and soft sounds

a deft touch 

and a guiding glance

to make sure

that we

who sit in stony silence 

will be kept in time

by the rising and falling of 

the great green pacific

From: Surf Simply

Little bird of blue

brachiosaurus15Leave a comment

The rays of sun beamed down from the sky laying a thick layer of warmness on the Earth’s surface. The dark yellow school bus happily chugged along the valley’s floor and up the hill to drop off the captives for their usual morning classes. Steeping briskly, as I do, I made my way to room two where I took a seat on the chilled plastic chair that I was expected to stick to like glue. My heavy books were plopped on the table as a sigh of reality takes hold of my lungs. The confining walls lined with large glass sheets let my eyes wander the landscape. The mountains breathe deep breaths of fresh air, I see their lungs fill nature and freshness. The trees sway as the mountains exhale long and slow. The room that I sit in is atop a tall hill that oversees a field. I look down upon the land that lays many feet below, just observing. Until suddenly a small scrub jay painted in blue and black leaps off of the chipped greed roof. My first thought was that his small wings and small body would plummet down to the field below. Instead, he gracefully soared through the open air. He seemed weightless and unbelievably free. I wish with all of my mind and body that I could be that scrub jay. I wish that I could weightlessly jump off of buildings and without a care float through the sky. Instead, I sit heavy and flightless.

Found on flyinglesson.us