The Final Countdown!

Glad the presentations are over! I hope that having people create their own six word memoir was a half decent idea for my presentation? Guess I'll find out!

The interviews that I did... I did not feel they were up to par and so I decided to cut those out and just write the full length paper instead. It was much more difficult than I had anticipated for people who I personally knew to fully open up to me about my topic. All my interviews felt half-hearted and lacking, so I feel it's best to not include them. However, I did talk to some people through TWLOHA's online street team and they were SIGNIFICANTLY more willing to talk to me. (Kinda nice at least that part worked, and kinda funny that my 'failure' with talking to those who I knew just reinstated my original thesis.)

Finishing touches on the paper and I'll be WALKING to Berkey tomorrow since my NEW bike lock decided to completely freeze up on me thanks to this lovely weather. On the way to my first exam today I tried to thaw it out with my light and ended up burning off half my glove instead! My luck...


Remember: your fears are for nothing.

I really enjoyed all of the presentations today!!!

Well, I guess technically yesterday...

Not to play favorites, but I especially liked Sean's. I can definitely see 4th graders thoroughly enjoying that activity, especially when he would go around telling people to work faster or switch spots... absolutely hilarious!!

The power points were very well organized and Anna? (sorry if I got your name wrong!!!) did a great job making her research relate back to a lot of the discussions we have had in class. I was planning on showing a clip of a youtube video... so now I know that in order to do that I'll need to have to loaded beforehand! Good deal.

A 10 minute presentation.

Doesn't sound that hard, right?

Well...

It is.

How are you guys doing yours?

------------------------------
Will definitely include for entertainment purposes:
Pictures.
Music.
Excerpts.

Death by power point!!

MOOSE

So, I just put two and two together.

(That was a lot of twos up there)

The Loyal Order Of The Moose is a family fraternity... (similar to the one they had in REO's golden days). A couple weeks ago I went to the Fillmore Detroit and nearby was a HUGE building that said "The Loyal Order Of The Moose" my friend pointed it out and mentioned it was a funny name but other than that I didn't pay much attention to it...

Until now.

Duh.

I had a picture (because he took one of the building because he thought it was THAT funny) but it must have been deleted :/


Time for sleep? At 4:48 a.m.?
Maybe it would be if I weren't a freakin' college student!
Oyyyyyye.

aaaand....

And here's a video with actual substance :)

kickin' it!

...into high gear! wowowowoooo! caffeinated beverages galoreeee!!!

It's been a weekend dedicated to the paper!!!!

AND I've been re-reading The Story Of REO Joe for the book review

1) because it's the one I'm most familiar with
2) because it's the one I was most interested in because it takes place in Lansing
3) because I went to the museum and it was pretty interesting and it's cool to connect the two
4) because every time they talk about MSU it makes me smile, hah
5) because the company as a family thing interests me quite a bit!


Here is a video that basically gives a tour of the museum if you didn't get a chance to go!

bam.

This weekend I received my first (and hopefully last) concussion.

This unfortunately has hindered my paper writing.... a lot. I am still having horrible headaches and am still nauseous, dizzy, throwing up and at times am confused. I saw a doctor and if I throw up again I have to go to the ER for a CT scan.

So yeah. This really friggen sucks.

lkfguk

I thought the movie today was interesting!
Personally, during the part where the older man started crying I would have had a hard time not reaching out to him and comforting him. But that's journalism, I suppose! And I've gotta figure out a way to get used to it.

It's sad how much we take equal rights for granted these days, when back then they had to fight ferociously for even a chance at them.  

I really enjoyed our in depth discussions on Tuesday. A surprising feat considering how early the class is!

I liked how much we got off topic and how many different definitions for one word there can be, and how technically no single definition is more wrong or right than another because it's all a matter of perspective.

Interviews, writing, uploading, editing...

laksdjfksd.

^^^^^ that is how I felt in the morning is and STILL how I feel! I have the immune system of a paper clip.... aka nonexistent.

BUT because I feel so crummy means it's the perfect time to get a ton of reading done! aka: The Great Arizona Abduction and Purpose For The Pain (TWLOHA book) so yay! Hopefully a warm, cozy night of reading and cookies and coziness awaits me! I am sad I missed out on class because I actually really do enjoy the discussions, even though I may not 'actively' participate most of the time.

I borrowed the recorder from the IMPACT so I'm hoping to do some audio interviews this weekend.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just went to webs.com to make the website for this and "yourstorymatters.webs.com" is already taken!!! AHHHHHHHHH! And I went to the website and it's completely blank! UGH! Jerk.

yeah, everything is alright.

I got my books today! I'm very excited to read them! I plan on cracking into at least one of them tonight!!

I did another interview today! Woo!

I was supposed to have a meeting with a couple people from MSU who also feel very strongly about TWLOHA today. We were going to discuss why we felt that way and I was going to get some interviews as well as contact info for others who feel the same way. I got to the Union and found out the meeting was cancelled! Awesome.

Today's class discussion made me think of my philosophy class a lot. What defines a person and who they are and how we come to those conclusions and how a lot of the time the only way we can find to 'define' things is by saying everything that it is not, rather than what it actually is. Yepp.

Personally, if someone told me I was now Canadian I'd be pretty freakin' pissed... even though I love Canada and make a point to go there at least once a year. I'M AN AMERICAN, DAMMIT! AH-MUR-CA! YEAH!!! Even though I'm technically half filipino...

I often wonder what my mom classifies herself as. My mom was born in the Philippines, lived in Italy for 6 years and then lived in Canada for 4 years and then finally moved to the US to be with my dad and became a US citizen. I feel like she changes her 'nationality' to fit her mood for the day....

Stuffffff

I am getting my books in person tomorrow around noon!

So far one person officially helped me and we did an online interview and she summarized how she felt  about TWLOHA in a paragraph. I am also working on creating a Uchapter for TWLOHA here at MSU and I've been talking to some of the people who are helping me with that as well. And of course, I plan on interviewing them as well. I will choose a domain name for my website this week. At the moment, I am leaning towards www.freewebs.com/yourstorymatters but we'll see.

Below is a picture of me at the museum! To prove that I went and everything just in case I forget my receipt tomorrow for some reason... I look like and felt like death!!

  

Books! Glorious Books!!

I forgot!!!!

My books came in the mail yesterday!!! Can't wait to get them and I will be reading up a storm.
A few more people just agreed to help me out. Score!!! I'm going to be doing lots of online stuff tomorrow and will be conducting a few interviews this weekend! I'm also still working on that darned paper. Gosh, my attention span is as short as I am!

I called her on the phone...

Haha, I'm actually going to be seeing Say Anything in exactly a week!

But anyways...

I spent two hours today making phone calls asking people for interviews or write ups.


So far I have 10 people who are willing to help me out. I made over 40 phone calls...

This is going to be a PAIN. But definitely worth it.

Next, I'm going to be asking the same thing
of people on the TWLOHA street team website, completely connecting the online community aspect of it together. 

I went to the REOlds Museum yesterday with my parents. I took a million pictures and my dad was a super nerd about the whole thing and it was fun. I'm having a bit of trouble writing the paper for the extra credit though.

MY. HEAD. HURTS.

your story matters.

I am EXTREMELY excited about all the interviews I'm going to be doing!!!!!!

I realized that I have to focus more on the story aspect of TWLOHA than the actual organization itself. My project cannot be solely a report on TWLOHA. If you guys wanted to know about the organization all you would have to do is go to the website and look for yourselves. My contribution will be telling as many people's stories as possible. Like TWLOHA advocates: "your story matters" and I am going to promote exactly that.

HOW:

I am going to tell my own story.
(I can't expect others to do something I wouldn't do myself.)
I am going to interview people via recorder or video to tell their stories.
(Their 'stories' may be about themselves directly or about a loved one and how it affected them.)
I am going to ask people to send me their stories via print.
(Both people I'll 'meet' through TWLOHA that I may never actually meet in person (hitting hard on the premise of the online community) and others that I do know personally, but may not want to be directly interviewed)

I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!!!!!!!! YAY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Proposal

I figured since I took the time to write it, I might as well post my proposal as well. If you actually manage to read through the whole thing, tell me what you think! Comments are greatly appreciated!!

    To Write Love On Her Arms is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping those “who are struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide”. What started off as a Myspace page, quickly accelerated into an utter phenomenon of an online community of support. I, myself, have relied on online support groups and  personally know of their strong effects. I want to show how an online community is just as real as the one in your backyard.
    I realize my topic is rather broad, so to help narrow it down I will divide my website into categories. The ones I have come up with so far are: the disease, the community, the hope. In ‘the disease’ category I will focus on the types of self-harm that people often put themselves through and why; being informed is extremely important, ignorance does not make a problem disappear.  In ‘the community’ category I will talk specifically about TWLOHA and how it has become a cultural phenomenon of online community and support. I will show how disheartened individuals came together armed with an unbelievable ferocity, courage and support for each other, when most had never actually met in person. They were transformed  through the telling of one girl’s story and were inspired to tell their own. They were nurtured by each others’ kind words while coming together on a simple Myspace page as well as through music, literature, and kind words, into a thriving community of hopefuls. I will also incorporate any hardships or ridicule that TWOLHA has encountered over the years to avoid biases. In ‘the hope’ category I will tell stories of recovery from my interviews and incorporate pictures and video as well as provide information on how to get help or get involved.
    I plan to create a website using the web service www.freewebs.com.  The domain will probably be www.freewebs.com/thetwlohaproject or something of the like. On the website, I will upload (or at the very least link to) sound bytes of interviews I’ve conducted with advisors at the MSU Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) as well as other advisors at the MSU Counseling Center. Additionally, I plan on interviewing those who have been severely affected by depression, whether it be directly themselves or through losing a loved one to suicide. Finally, I plan on interviewing as many of the TWLOHA staff and interns that will be willing to talk to me. (Believe me, I can be quite persuasive!) I have joined the TWOLHA street team and am currently completing many “orders” that will progress my rank forward and increase my chances of directly communicating with the main staff, perhaps even founder, Jamie Tworkowski. I will upload pictures I’ve taken relating with my topic. Additionally, I plan on using other medias such as mind maps, google maps, google charts, and the like to express information I’ve acquired for my topic visually.
        Also, I am planning on applying to start a TWLOHA Uchapter here at Michigan State. CMU and U of M already have chapters started so I think that MSU should, too! I also may talk with or interview members of those university chapters and perhaps the people who first started them. I plan to document this as well.
    As you can see, this is something I am very passionate about. I’ve talked with my journalism professors and they approve and feel this has the potential to be an incredible project and are willing to help me out if I need. If this does not currently meet your expectations, I am willing to do anything and everything until it does.

Mhmmm... Credit Cards...

I also just purchased the following books which are available on the TWLOHA website for research purposes!

Be a man!

Today's discussion reminded me of the Simpsons's episode: Homer's Phobia. Homer is convinced that his son Bart is gay so he takes him into the woods with a bunch of men to drink some beers and kill a deer. They have trouble finding a deer for Bart to kill until they stumble upon a reindeer ranch. Bart doesn't want to kill the reindeer but Homer demands that he does, because it will make Bart a "man". Fortunately for the reindeer, they turn out to be quite vicious and Homer and Bart are the ones who need saving, and are ironically saved by Bart's homosexual friend.

At my school, boys who were at school on opening day were often ridiculed. So I know exactly how that goes...
"Too much of a sissy to miss school to hunt, huh?"

I was going to embed a clip of the episode instead of describing the whole thing, but I could not find one without copyright issues...

Additionally, I looked up "old family feeling" and surprisingly enough, it is not a song!

Now for my topic's news!

The professor I was going to talk to was MIA in class again. >:(

But, 'stuff' happens so I suppose I am going to have to deal! As he always says, if you can't get something to work, don't give up; you've gotta figure things out yourself until it does!

So, that's exactly what I'm going to do!

I'm going to press another professor for as much information as I can possibly get out of him, talk to reliable elder students and whoever else I can get to listen to be in the Com Arts building!

I've been mulling it over quite a bit. I have all of my general stuff essentially figured out, the only thing I'm seriously lacking is a web service to use to host my project. At the moment, I am leaning towards this. I've used the the service before, and I believe it will serve my needs quite well! At the very least it will provide a place for all of my various projects to be located into one huge collaboration!

So, because I feel like I somehow have to make something in this post multimedia-y, here's a clip of the song I appropriately had stuck in my head for the rest of the day after our discussion. Night!

NEW TOPIC

Yep! That's right!

I went to Office Hours last week and realized I was wasting mine (and our prof's) time by writing about something that I didn't really care about. Therefore, we talked it over and I will now be writing about the organization To Write Love On Her Arms. (TWLOHA)

Below is TWLOHA's mission statement, because I honestly cannot say it better myself.

To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

Additionally, instead of writing a paper, I am going to create a website about my topic and how it relates to the idea of community. TWLOHA started off as a myspace page. It was an online community for others to seek refuge and help those who were suffering, no matter how far away they were. The very idea that people can be so close emotionally no matter how physically far away they are is an incredibly inspiring one.

I will post information, pictures I've taken, as well as sound bytes of interviews I've conducted concerning the topic. Also, I plan on using ways of expressing information visually that I have learned in my visual communication class such as: mind maps on bubbl.com, google maps, google charts, youtube videos, and many other forms of media.

I am VERY, VERY excited about these new ideas because they directly correlate with my journalism major.

At this point, I am unsure as to which website I will use to create my website. I conversed with my JRN 200 professor about the topic, but since he is an older man, if you will, he did not have much to say about the website part, (he barely knows how to work youtube) but did give me helpful interview tips. I have my JRN 203 class tomorrow at 4:10 where I plan to talk with my amazing professor, Karl Gude. He knows everything internet, everything visual, everything media and more. I am very excited for the ideas that we may come up with together!!!

Beard Lust

A very informative video I found about the strike ;)




So if you couldn't tell from the above emoticon, this was a highly sarcastic post. I feel like men will use any excuse they can to grow a beard... speaking of which, No Shave Novembeard is almost upon us! Darn female hormones. I would definitely partake if I could!

I actually hadn't considered using youtube as a means of gathering information for my paper, but thanks to a fellow student, now I have much more media to choose from! Tomorrow will behold many new discoveries! But seeing as how my roommate just turned off the light on me, I suppose it is now time for slumber. Good night and good luck! (Love that movie)

Brick By Boring Brick

For some reason I've been listening to a lot of Paramore lately, which is a band I used to absolutely hate.

It's probably because I saw Flyleaf last weekend and now I'm on this girl-power trip. Whatever works, I suppose!

Anyways, how this actually relates is I feel like I've been putting together brick by boring brick lately to get things accomplished. Nothing is outrageously fun or captivating, but it all needs to be done, and it shall be done.

However, I am extremely excited about the extra credit opportunity! I LOVE MUSEUMS! This will surely be a treat!! 

On to class on Thursday and Office Hours slightly afterward! I am taking time off of work to go to Office Hours this week. Normally I would mind a lot, but work has been quite dreadful as of lately, so again, this could possibly be the treat I so desperately need! And of course I'll hopefully get my paper more figured out so that of course will be of use! 

Dissertation Abomination

Writing, writing, writing...

...about the Writer's Strike of 2007-2008!

Writing about not writing... irony, anyone?

Anyways, back to this abomination of a dissertation...

My paper will be golden, I swear it, for some reason I just can't do rough drafts. We don't get along, at all. But I suppose it's something I need to overcome or I'm going to majorly fail at this life thing... or at least the surviving college aspect of it!

Gingervitis

So, it never actually occurred to me to think about where all of the ginger/Irish stereotypes actually originated. And in class today we actually talked about it! I suppose I've always just taken those kind of things for granted, like they always were... this class is definitely making me a more curious person these days!

Anyways, here's a link for a poor chap who takes things a bit too seriously. I probably shouldn't have laughed at this, but oh well...


Gingers Do Have Souls

October

Hayrides! Cider! Haunted Houses! and History 201!!!! WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Don't really have much to say, but I figured I would update. I've been doing research for my topics although I don't really know what I'm doing. Hopefully class tomorrow morning will help. Additionally, October just puts me in a good mood, with its plethora of lovely activities and happenings, so hopefully that will be of use as well!

p.s. - I was assured that the coffee at Michigan State is Fair Trade. So huzzah! Now to fix MSU's food waste problems and then onto being coal free!

I suck... a lot.

So yes, I've been really terrible about this blog thing. Attempted redemption here I come! (Although I know this single halfhearted post will not suffice, there shall be more, I assure you!!)

I am absolutely adoring the idea of the writer's strike of 2007-2008. Thank you so much!!! It definitely affected a lot of the television shows I watched back then and is definitely very apparent in history when going back and viewing said shows.

I am also going to set up an appointment with our lovely professor in order to discover the true meaning of life... or get my paper sorted out a bit more, I'll take whatever I can get.

Additionally, I am going to start drinking more coffee. I'm not a coffee drinker whatsoever but forced myself to drink an adequate amount today because I was seriously dragging ass. Truth be told I've never been so wired for so long in my entire life. This is definitely going to become a regular occurrence. Why I shared this? I've no idea! Probably the coffee...

On second thought, in honor of this class I should probably try to stick to "Fair Trade" coffee, seeing as if I deviated I would potentially be insulting the entire basis of this class and its pushes towards labor unions and better conditions. I will ask the green shirted man at Sparty's about this tomorrow morning and will update with his response.

Good night and good morning fellow bloggers!

Topic Ideas.... Or Lack There Of.

I still have no idea what my topic is going to be.

I'm not a history lady, at all. I have no idea what I'm doing.

I just can't fathom writing an entire paper about coal mining, chicken farms, or something of the sort.

I like music, art, theater, movies and TWLOHA.

I should probably learn to broaden my horizons, huh?

...or is there some sort of community that bases itself around one of those things? Hollywood? Seems far too shallow to write a paper about. Or perhaps exposing the pure simplistic yet exceedingly complicated vices of Hollywood would be part of my paper's charm? No clue. Plus, I don't know that much about the area, but I do suppose that's what research is for!

It was also suggested to me that I could pick Nashville as a community. It (at least used to) center itself pretty thoroughly around music, correct? But the only thing is a lot of it comes from other places migrating to Nashville to be discovered and become something. Does that even make sense? And would that even work?

Coal Ash Is Hazardous Waste

I am very excited to be able to attend class tomorrow!

Last Tuesday I was sick and Thursday I went to Chicago with the Sierra Club to attend the coal ash hearings that were taken place there. I figured it was an opportunity I could not afford to miss considering it combined both classes I would be missing that day: this class, were we've been learning about labor in the coal industry and creative journalism. I was expected to take photographs and twitter updates about everything going on. It was a very rewarding experience. And even though there wasn't as much focus on the harsh labor conditions of coal mining, it still was very informative about the severity of the matter and if anything provided me with even more sympathy for those poor workers.

First Post

I am a sophomore majoring in journalism and advertising. I am a massive music junkie so I enjoy learning about musical influences and changes during the different time periods. It fascinates me how music can help define how a generation forms and comes together (most often by choosing to rebel against the one before it). The 60’s and 70’s are very interesting to me because of the obvious effects of music during that time. Additionally, I have always been interested in the Salem Witch Trials. People being wrongly accused of something and then being horrendously punished for it has never failed to captivate my interest. If it bleeds, it leads, right? I don’t honestly know all that much about history as a subject. I was never fond of it in high school or during previous schooling but that was mostly due to dreadful teachers and even worse teaching methods. However, I do recognize its importance, and as a striving journalist, I realize I am simply seeking history before it’s history!

My First Blog

This is my first blog for HST 201. I just wanted to make sure everything worked and such, there will be more updates later!