The Christmas update

Well, Christmas flew by again this year...but it was great — got to spend lots of time with family and friends. I was initially discouraged about getting laid off at both of my seasonal jobs, but I managed to work a weekend with a caterer (I've worked there since 8th grade and love it - probably the best job I've had) and pulled a couple of babysitting jobs. It's been nice not be so scheduled (even though I love living on a schedule) and to have my nights free to hang out with friends. This year was the first time in four years that I haven't worked on Christmas Eve!

I got my LSAT score back yesterday and did pretty poorly. I didn't have much time to prepare, but this was the lowest I've ever scored (compared to all the practice tests I've taken). I went ahead and signed up for the February test and hope to devote about three hours a day to studying. I've essentially finished my personal statements, resume and essays, but I've got to get my score up to have a decent shot at getting accepted anywhere. I logged on this morning and started reading about how there was a significant curve on the December LSAT (because it was hard) — encouraging and yet very discouraging at the same time. The Lord is faithful and I'm sure He will make His way evident soon...it's just hard because I graduate May 1 and would love to know where He wants me.

My last semester of undergrad begins January 6! That's terribly exciting and scary. I'm happy about being finished with my studies and my job, but I'm nervous about what post-graduation will bring. I'm looking forward to a final semester with only four classes, lots of library/LSAT time, a semi-new staff at the newspaper office, RUF activities and lots more!

MSU students weigh in on "Twilight" craze

The craziest "New Moon" poster I could find on Google Images within 30 seconds.

For the second time in a week, I'm publishing a story that I wrote and basically telling you to read it. Clearly, I have no shame...

This is a my final story for my feature writing class. (It's obviously a feature story, but it had to have some sort of newsworthy angle or trend aspect, so I kind of aimed for a combination of both.) I told a lot of people that I was writing it, and some of y'all wanted to see it, so enjoy. :) This is also the slightly-extended version (I had to cut it down to 835 words to meet my teacher's requirements.)

Thanks to all the friends who gave up a few minutes to do an interview. I couldn't have finished this story without y'all! (And yes, I did get everyone's permission to post this! I did take out first names so that it isn't the first thing that comes up if their names get Googled.)

--
Looking over recent entertainment headlines, Twitter feeds and the magazines at the grocery checkout line, one thing is evident: With the release of “New Moon,” the “Twilight” craze has struck again. At first glance, it appears everyone’s obsessed with the series: E! Online reports middle-aged women have stolen cardboard cutouts of Taylor Lautner (Jacob) and Robert Pattinson (Edward) multiple times from Nordstrom and UK Mail Online says pale makeup sales are up 200 percent over the past month.

The craze has not hit everyone, though. While people across the nation, including college students, lined up for the midnight premiere of “New Moon,” not all were diehard, vampire-clad, Team Edward/Team Jacob screaming preteen girl fans.

J. Thomasson, senior computer science major, and S. Anderson, senior communication major, were two of a handful of males at the Malco Columbus’ premier. Neither one claims to be a “Twilight” fan, but both went to the premier with friends to people watch and try to understand the craze behind the series.

Anderson said he also went to heckle audience members, allowing his cell phone alarm to go off multiple times and faking phone calls during romantic scenes.

“I tried to play the part of the loud obnoxious guy … I’d just react to anything and everything in the movie with my unfiltered thoughts,” he said. “[When] I realized Edward was 109, I said aloud, ‘Does that mean he’s a 109-year-old virgin?’ The lady next to me said, ‘You’re not gonna talk throughout the whole movie, are you?’ I said, ‘This is just how I watch movies’ … Unfortunately, I didn’t piss off the whole bunch [the audience], just the people around me.”

Even though he has not read the books, Thomasson said he went to see the movie simply because he has friends who enjoy the series.

“Eventually, I felt guilty for making fun of something I hadn’t seen, so I went with three of my Twi-hard pals and saw it,” he said.

Thomasson, who said the crowd was at least 80 percent female, said he thinks part of the following behind “Twilight” is just girls who love slow-motion shots of Jacob and Edward shirtless.

“Ugh, it was ridiculous,” he said. “Every five seconds, a collective gasp would go up from the crowd: ‘Oh my gosh!’ The girls sitting down the row from me actually let out loud sexual moans on a number of occasions.”

Junior philosophy major B. Johnson said when she went to watch the film, there was ‘muffled excitement’ throughout the viewing, and the girls in the audience clearly preferred Jacob over Edward.

“There was no swooning when Edward was shirtless, probably because everyone was distracted by the fact that his left nipple was bigger than his right one,” she said with a laugh. “At least that’s what I noticed.”

Johnson, a fan of the books, said she thinks the first movie was not well done, but she was still excited about seeing “New Moon.” She doesn’t consider herself a vampire fan and said the series hasn’t made her more interested in vampire literature.

“[I’m] only interested in continuing to watch the ‘Twilight’ [movie] series unfold,” she said.

Having no intentions of ever seeing “New Moon,” H. Boswell, junior art major, said a friend dragged her into it.

“The whole movie just seems like a joke. I wasn’t entertained, and I’m very easily entertained,” Boswell said. “I just wanted to leave.”

Boswell said she could potentially understand the “Twilight” craze if the series really focused on vampires.

“I can understand that people like vampires, but this isn’t vampires,” she said.

Anderson also said watching the movie did not get him more interested in vampire fiction or movies.

“It’s become an odd frenzy-bandwagon thing,” he said. “I don’t really get it, but I officially know Hollywood can sex up anything and kids will buy it.”

Thomasson said “New Moon” strengthened his belief that decent vampire movies cannot exist.

“I have no fetish for vampires … and ‘New Moon’ just fueled my opinion that a ‘good’ vampire movie will never be made,” he said. “It is impossible.”

Junior operational meteorology major A. Cole said she thinks the attractiveness factor for the male actors is a primary reason for the “Twilight” following. Cole, who said she has watched and enjoyed other vampire movies, said “Twilight” doesn’t focus on the vampire aspect.

“I can definitely see why not only teenage girls but women would read or watch it — it’s a hormone rush,” she said.

During the movie, Cole said she struggled not to laugh out loud or make fun of other audience members.

“I laughed inside when I probably shouldn’t have,” she said. “I understood the risk of laughing [out loud] at the wrong time in a theater full of girls who would rip my head off.”

Friends have encouraged Anderson to read the books to gain a better understanding of the “Twilight” obsession, but he said he’s not sold.

“I’ve been told on several occasions that you have to read the books, that the movies make it cheesier than it should be; you know that kind of ‘can’t knock it till you try it’ mentality,” Anderson said. “There’s no way I'm wasting that kind of time. I mean, I don’t need to see another Keanu Reaves movie to know it’s gonna be crap.”

Boswell said the movie wasn’t worth seeing even if viewers just want to make fun of it, and she doesn’t understand the following behind the series.

“I thought our nation was going under when the Jonas Brothers came out, but this is way worse than that,” she said.

View the E! Online story that I cited here and read the UK Mail Online story here.

What NOT to drink to keep you awake

Want to know what you should and shouldn't drink to keep you awake during finals week but don't have time to try everything? Let me help you out. :)

I got to write an opinion/entertainment piece for the last issue of The Reflector and chose to write about energy drinks. I didn't get to try everything that readers and friends suggested, but I tried a pretty good variety of things in about a week's time. Check it out here and let me know what you think. Happy studying!

Law school?

Might as well go ahead and get to the point — guess who's signed up for the LSAT Dec. 5?

Why yes, I am.

After speaking to an adviser about going to paralegal school, he urged me to try taking the LSAT. I honestly thought that was crazy; after all, I haven't studied for it, nor was I completely sold on the idea of it. I signed up for the test, took a timed practice test cold turkey, did OK and am now trying to study my butt off for the real test! It's in the middle of final exams, so please pray extra hard for me if you think about it! We'll see if this is where I'm supposed to be — still praying about it, but I'm actually much more happy about studying for the LSAT and not the GRE (no math!).

Went on RUF Fall Conference with eight other colleges last weekend and had a great time. It was good to be out in nature, get out of Starkville, enjoy fellowship and worship with others. State's RUF got to lead the music and I really loved being back and able to sing with the band.

Short post for tonight — I'm tired, still waiting on my food to get delivered (it's been an hour!) and ready for bed. I went to bed at 5 a.m. this morning (thanks to homework and some journalism stuff) and got up at 10 a.m....whew. I don't recommend it! :)

Last full day in Austin

No alliteration tonight, folks. Sorry! Tonight’s blog post will be shorter. (I know y’all are all very thankful for that.)

April and I slept in a little bit today and it was pretty splendid. When we went to grab breakfast, April saw a girl wearing DG letters (April’s sorority), so she went to introduce herself. We ended up sitting with her for about 30 minutes and had some great discussions about what our papers were doing. She attends a smaller private school in Iowa, so it was interesting to compare that to our large public land-grant institution.

For once, April and I also attended all of the same sessions today. We hadn’t done this throughout the week (except for the big design seminar with several hundred people in it) because we wanted to cover a large variety of topics. We started out with a legal session, which was led by the University of Alabama’s adviser and Student Press Law Center’s (SPLC) executive director Frank LoMonte. The Reflector has recently been in contact with SPLC and they’ve been very helpful, so it was great to meet the executive director today.

We also attended a session about writing for the Internet. We’ve heard from many people over the week that you shouldn’t just paste your stories from your paper directly onto the Internet. The leader did mention this in his session, but it wasn’t as helpful as we had hoped.

Our last session of the day was “100+ Story Ideas,” led by Lori Brooks from the University of Oklahoma. It was really helpful, entertaining and fast-paced. She was quick to give direction but also asked for student input. This was definitely one of my favorite sessions and I can’t wait to try some of story ideas.

We did some sightseeing today with a couple of new friends! (Wow, that sounds cheesy.) We visited the state capitol, the University of Texas campus (where I spotted the Jumbotron that’s bigger than MSU’s) and the Congress Avenue Bridge. We headed to the bridge around 6:15 and stayed there for over an hour to watch the world’s largest population of urban bats (1.5 million) leave for the night. It was pretty amazing. Sadly it was dark, so the photos didn’t turn out great, but that’s OK.


We met this guy on the bridge while waiting for the bats. He was walking on stilts!

Since it’s Halloween, we ventured into Austin’s Sixth Street (entertainment district) and watched the madness — Halloween costumes everywhere! It was kind of amazing, scary, weird and entertaining all at once. We can still hear people yelling outside, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing lots of them coming in around four or five a.m.!

Time to call it a night. It’s been a great conference, but I think we’re ready to head back “home” tomorrow. (Pray we get home on time - I haven't been able to check in online tonight, which makes me sad...) Oh, be sure to view April's blog here.

Another round of amazing Austin adventures!

All right, to start things off, I want all of y’all to visit April’s blog right here. She read me the first paragraph of her post tonight, and I think it’s funny — therefore, y’all should all read it. (Plus we went to different sessions, so our posts will be pretty different.)

And now for a wrap-up on the National College Media Convention sessions I attended today. Again, I apologize for the length.

1. Keep Going When the Going Is Really Tough:
I also only know one of the speakers’ names, so I’m not going to post them. This was basically a session on how to market yourself and what you can do with your journalism degree. I was disappointed with the lack of variety with this session. It turned out that all three people leading it had journalism (or communication-related) degrees or experience, and all three were currently teaching at the same university. They all had outside careers and different interests, but all three were teachers. I really would have liked to see three people in different careers on this panel, not three teachers.

2. Convention General Session: Steve Outing
Outing’s message was titled, “Why Now is the Best Time Ever to Go Into Journalism.” When he announced this, I was immediately intrigued — why? Because (almost) everyone else has been telling us, “Get out of journalism! You won’t have a job when you graduate!” (The other people that haven’t told me that just keep saying, “Well, if you love it and you’re passionate about it, then surely you’ll find a job! And you’ll make money!” In my humble opinion, loving what you do, having passion and even being good at something doesn’t guarantee you a job or money. But hey, what do I know? I’m only a 22-year-old college student.)
He talked about how interesting today’s media is compared to the media of the 70s and 80s. It was basically a brief history lesson. He talked briefly about niche journalists and freelance options. (Question about niche journalists that I posed to my peers via Twitter: In today’s day and age with fierce competition, do you think niche journalism limits you?) April and I had to leave early to make it to our critique appointment, so I didn’t get a good feel for the overage message.

3. Individual Newspaper Critique
April and I sat down with Cheri Shipman from Texas A&M for a 35-minute critique. Shipman was very helpful and very complementary, while also being quick to ask us questions about why do certain things with the paper. She made good suggestions and posed some good questions. I won’t bore y’all with the details here, but heads up Reflector staff — we’re bringing back new ideas!

4. The Art and Science of Editorial Writing: Arnold Garcia, opinion page editor at the Austin American-Statesman
Garcia reminder me of one huge thing: Our opinion pieces at The Reflector are too long. Again, heads up, Reflector staff; I’m planning to crack down on the epic narratives that we sometimes receive from out writers! (He said articles usually shouldn’t be more than 400-500 words.)
He also posed a good point, saying, “Now you’ve [an opinion writer] told me whose fault it [whatever issue you write about] is — tell me how to fix it.”
5. Battling the Tranquility University Syndrome – Covering “Bad News” on Campus: Shawn Murphy, SUNY Plattsburg
Murphy expressed something that I’ve wanted to tell people at my great university (seriously, I do think it’s great — that’s no sarcasm) many, many, many times: The Reflector is not my paper and it is not a PR vehicle for the university. As an adviser, he also talked about how many people think the adviser runs the newspaper and the university puts pressure on him or her to edit/censor content. (Disclaimer: I have no idea if this is true for The Reflector, nor I am accusing my university of using The Reflector as a PR vehicle. To this day, I still have dear friends who call me and ask, “Hey, my club is doing ______. Can you get us in the paper?” or “Hey, I’ll give you a quote for the paper — just tell me what you want me to say!”)
Murphy had some AMAZING stories. The kinds of things his staff has covered are stories most college newspapers only dream about covering. He was also dismissed (unofficially — it’s a long story) from one of his jobs because he “let” something run in the student newspaper. Really interesting stuff.

6. Writing the Bad Habits Out of Your Eager but Inexperienced Staff: Tom Pierce
This was my last session for the day, and it followed a much-needed but too short nap. Pierce addressed two aspects: mistakes while interviewing and mistakes in writing. It was encouraging to hear other students asking questions and voicing problems that I’ve seen in while working for the paper. The session was standing room only — I sat on the floor next to an opinion editor from Loyola University in Chicago and another girl from Duke.

7. Okay, I lied in that last bullet. I really did another session … at 11 p.m.! April and I had our paper critiqued again by the lovely adviser from the University of Alabama. It was really good to have another SEC adviser looking at our paper because she had a good idea for what we cover/should cover, etc. She talked to us for over an hour and looked at three issues of the paper. Thank you!

April and I enjoyed dinner at Rio Grande, which is where a season of “Real World” was filmed. (Obviously it’s been turned into a restaurant since they used it for the show.) Tomorrow, we get out early (around 2:30 or so), so we’re excited about seeing some of Austin’s sites. I want some photographs … cool angles, you know? ;) (shout out to Kyle and Lawrence)

OK, it’s way past bedtime. Expect a video tomorrow on April’s blog — we’re filming one tonight, but we don’t have Internet in our room and we’re definitely not coming back downstairs to the lobby to upload it when we could be sleeping.

Keep following our Twitter updates (@AubraWhitten and @AprilWindham). Search for the hashtag #ncmc09 to see what everyone's saying during the conference. Good night!

Amazing adventures in Austin

Wow, I lose major journalism points for the cheesy title, but whatever.

The Reflector assistant news editor and I are at the National College Media Convention in Austin, Texas. Basically, it's a big conference for collegiate journalists and advisers. We've had a great time, met people from all over the United States (so far, no one else from Mississippi), attended some great sessions, seen cool buildings and also enjoyed some nice cuisine. Let's just say Austin is definitely not Starkville — tonight we walked four blocks and bam, Spaghetti Warehouse! We're also staying on the 11th floor of a 20+ story Hilton Hotel. I think the tallest building in Starkville is maybe 10 floors — anyone know how tall Suttle Hall is?

April and I missed a production night today (oh don't worry, I was the dork in the Atlanta airport reading stories, marking them up in Word then e-mailing them back to section editors). It was weird not being in the newsroom, but the staff managed without us, the paper was sent and from what I've heard, the Henry Meyer Student Media Center is still standing.

A couple of random observations:
1. I've never seen so many Macs or iPhones in one place at one time (yeah, even at the Apple Store). It makes me really happy.
2. I love that everyone here greets you, smiles, asks your position at your paper and where you're from — we've all got journalism in common.
3. The Hilton is silly because it charges $6 an hour for Internet in your room. (There's free Internet in the main lobby, but not on the conference floors or in the conference building next door.)
4. The Hilton might just be worth every penny because it provides complementary printing. (And I really needed it today, considering I forgot to print my resumes back in Starkville.)
5. As nice as the Hilton is, I've already seen two cockroaches three times in less than 24 hours. One of them is in our room. I tried to kill him, but alas, he escaped. (Let the record stand that I did injure him and I haven't seen him since 6:45 this morning.) We've named him our honorary third roommate, but I wish he would leave.
6. My hair likes Austin. It rained today and was super windy, yet my hair didn't get frizzy. Amazing.
7. Everyone here has a massive coffee addiction (the line at the hotel coffee shop this morning proved it) and I love it.
8. I LOVE the newspaper nerdiness and journalism jokes that keep popping up.
9. I know I'm probably annoying non-journalism people with my Twitter right now. I apologize. It will only last two more days, I promise.
10. This has nothing to do with the convention, but y'all, my arm is STILL sore from my flu shot last Friday!

Anyway, here are the sessions I attended today with some brief highlights:
1. Get Out of (Libel) Jail Free Card: Doug Pierce, attorney at King and Ballow in Nashville, TN
Pierce talked about different privileges reporters have and how that affects their legal covering. He used an interesting quote from the Louisana Court of Appeals: "Talebearers are just as bad as talemakers." (1952) Basically, it means you can't quote someone libeling/defaming someone else and always expect to get away with it — you're the talebearer and you're still partially responsible. Someone in the session brought up the Web site Smoking Gun (which I wasn't familiar with until today; it's a site that has police reports, mugshots, etc.) and we talked about the legal ramifications of getting information from that site instead of the actual officials. I spoke to him after the session about possibly attending paralegal school and he was helpful, telling me that it's a good thing I have (or will have) a four-year degree prior to a paralegal career.
2. Ethics and Practice of Trauma Journalism (Dart Center): Kelly Furnus, VA Tech newspaper adviser, Donna DeCesare and Rachele Kanigel
This session was INCREDIBLY helpful. If you're a journalist and aren't familiar with the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, check it out. It was a short panel discussion and then students attending the session got to ask questions to the panel about how to cover things. It was really encouraging to hear from peers about their struggles to report really hard things, everything from women being abused to a professor randomly pulling out a gun and shooting three students on campus. I say it was encouraging because it was good to hear that our newspaper isn't alone in having to cover hard things. (Like I've said before, death stories are some of my least favorite, but they're also a good way to help give families and friends closure about that person.) It was very helpful and interesting to hear Kelly Furnus speak about how he and his staff handled the VA Tech shooting back in 2007, and he was helpful in answering my question (how to handle requests from other news outlets to cover tragic stories for them; The Reflector was recently asked by a major news outlet to find out more info on a missing MSU student so that the outlet could run our story. We didn't have any more information, yet they kept asking us about it.)
3. Opening a Shut Case: Chuck Baldwin, University of South Dakota, and Mark Witherspoon, Iowa State
Here, we talked a lot about our state rules for open records, issues we've had with campus police, how to gather information, what to tell your crime beat reporter, etc. It was really interesting to hear what other students have gone through; again, it's nice to know a lot of us have the same issues while reporting! Again, I got to ask them questions and got solid answers, so that was great. Two quotes from Mark Witherspoon:
Addressing the issue of some reporters not being assertive/not pushing hard enough for information: "If they [public officials] don't give it [public records] to you, you need to get pissed."
When asked how to respond to your school administration when they say you're not allowed to have information that you're legally allowed to have: "Bring in the law and ask your officials, 'Are you going to break the law?'"
4. Chicken Salad II: Michael K (sorry, I don't have his last name in front of me)
First of all, this was a rocking design seminar. This guy was hilarious. I took some photos of his redesigns, so I'll post those shortly. Here are some quotes:
"Don't use clip art — when you search for it, that's wasting 10 minutes of your life away that you can never get back."
"Put the turds [lists, etc.] in a graphic — people love to look at graphics."
"If you've hit puberty, you're too old for clip art."
"Editors who can't write a decent headline should be waterboarded at Guantanamo."
"All people are created equal. All people in photographs are not."
"Graphic designers: you've got to train your word people [editors] like you train a puppy. When your puppy take a dump on your carpet, you take his little head within 30 seconds and push into that pile of poop. If you don't do it within 30 seconds, the puppy's going to wonder, 'Why is he pushing my head into someone else's feces?' He won't remember. When they [editors] tell you, 'It's [your graphic] stupid,' take their heads and shove it into the pile of feces that is that crappy assignment."
"I call this a John Doe going to take a dump lead: some guy I don't know doing something everyone does every day."
"The headline should be 'boom!' the deck should be simple."
"Your college journalism career is like your juvenile record: eventually, it gets wiped clean."

Also, check out April's blog right here — she's been updating, too!

Alright, it's way past time for bed. (They just dimmed the lights in the lobby.) Photos will be coming tomorrow via Facebook. Stay tuned to Twitter for lots of updates!

Trouble sleeping

It seems these days that no matter how tired I am, my body won't allow me to be in bed before midnight ... and forget even thinking about sleep until 1 or 2 a.m. at the earliest. No shocker, I still wake up not feeling rested. Mom always used to tell me that if God didn't grant you sleep, then you were supposed to be praying for someone - feel free to submit your requests and I'll gladly add you to my nightly list. :)

Speaking of my a prayer list ... please keep me in your prayers. I'm seriously considering paralegal school/certification and I'm really excited about it, but I'm having trouble finding the right program. There's really just one the Memphis area, and I'm still trying to consult some professional lawyers about which associations and programs are the best. I'm also considering the Jackson (Mississippi) area as well as Nashville. It'll be interesting to see where the Lord takes me next year! It's a daily struggle to trust Him, so I'm thankful that He's using this time of uncertainty to grow me.

I've had several people ask me, "Why are you giving up journalism? Isn't it your passion?" Short answers: The market is bad/unstable. And yes, it is my passion, but I can tell stories and help others in another field. Longer answer: I never said I'm giving it up forever. I'd love to freelance (writing and photography). I'm ready to get out of a newsroom - call me a grandma, but I just can't pull 3 and 4 a.m. shifts for the rest of my life. If I found a great journalism job upon graduation, I'd probably still take it, but the likelihood of that happening these days is slim.

All right, that's it for tonight. As usual, the paper sucked the life out of me today, so maybe I'll be able to sleep. (BTW, for anyone interested, we DID get our rights to police reports back...somewhat, and the complete log will be posted on reflector-online.com shortly!) I'm headed to bed - as soon as I go downstairs and inform our neighbors that it's 2 a.m. and therefore their porch stereo system needs to cease!

A bunch of nothing

I want to blog, but I don't really have much to blog about. (That's a disclaimer for those of you who continue to read this post.)

Had a great weekend in Nashville with my family and close friends. I went to cheer on the Belmont Bruins soccer team (they won their game 9-0), the ECS Eagles cross country team (they also did well, considering the course was an absolute mud hole), and the Mississippi State Bulldogs (beat Vandy at Vandy! Our first SEC away game win since October 2007 - sad, I know). It was a crazy busy weekend, and I look forward to going back up to Nashville again for part of fall break and having more time to chat with the family...and shop. :)

Oh, possible highlight of my day (it's sad when something like this is your highlight): I successfully took my procrastination abilities to a new level today. With just under an hour of time, I was able to write an 800 word story (well, rough draft of the story) for my feature writing class. I've already announced this via Facebook, so if my sweet teacher sees it, well, so be it. :) I didn't say it was perfect or great, but that's what rough drafts are for, right? We'll see how well it went over when I get the grade back...

As of yet, it hasn't rained today here in Starkville! It has rained for about a solid week and is supposed to keep raining through Friday. It's been cloudy all day until a few minutes ago - it's nice to see blue skies and the sun. I think I'm going to head outside for a bit and enjoy the weather (while studying for the GRE - boo).

Remember where you were eight years ago?

I do.

I was at home with my mom, sister, and brother. I was in eighth grade, and the three of us were home schooled. I had just finished some algebra work and had headed downstairs to attempt a science project with my siblings. I don't remember the project, but I do remember that it bubbled over and wasn't working right. As Mom searched the book trying to figure out what we had done wrong, the phone rang (home phone - I don't even think we had a cell phone at that time). Normally, Mom didn't answer much during school hours, but she did that day. It was Ms. Jill, a close friend of my mom's and at the time, my brother's soccer coach who worked at a local private school.

"Carrie, turn on the news."

"Jill, we're..."

"Carrie, turn on the news."

Ms. Jill knew we rarely had the news on and also knew we wouldn't have anything on or be in the car for several hours since we were at home working on school work. She had the presence of mind to call my Mom so that we would know what was happening.

I'm not sure exactly what Ms. Jill told my mom, but it made her move. I've seen my mom run on very few occasions, and this was one of those times. She bolted from the kitchen into the den, jabbing at the TV's power button frantically. Hearing the seriousness in Mom's tone, the three of us followed her in.

The first channel wasn't showing much, but the voices of the news anchors were grave. It was too silent. The camera only showed billowing smoke from a building.

Mom flipped the channel again, still on the phone, asking questions. As she changed the channel, I witnessed what I hope will be the most horrific thing I will ever have to see: a plane flying into one of the Twin Towers. We flipped channels again and saw the news about the Pentagon.

"We have family there," one of us murmured.

I don't know how long we sat there, confused, dazed, pulling out encyclopedias to look up the buildings and what they housed. I don't know how many faces of the dead, injured, and other victims I saw that day. I know that as long as I live, I never want to see something like that again.

Mom got off the phone with Ms. Jill and called Dad at work, telling him to turn on the old black and white TV at his store. For a few minutes, time froze as we gazed at the TV, stunned. We forgot about the failed science project bubbling and dripping all over the kitchen sink. We forgot about our math work. We forgot about reading. Mom began to make phone calls to see if our family and friends in the DC area were okay. Although it took hours, we eventually heard back from everyone, and we thanked the Lord that we had not lost any loved ones.

We spent a lot of time in prayer and the Word that day. I remember getting chills as we watched footage and I remember Mom eventually turning it off. It still didn't keep me from getting scared and those images still haunt me.

As I walked to campus this morning, took my quiz, then walked to work, I walked across MSU's Drill Field. My memories of 9/11/01 came flooding back as I came face to face with our flag at half mast. The Drill Field was silent, the sky was overcast, and the fly drooped - no wind, no movement. I stopped and stood for a moment, reflecting and trying to gather my thoughts.

I don't care how old I get or how many years go by - I don't think I'll ever be able to forget September 11th or stop the memories that come rushing back with it.

Random questions floating through my head at 1:08 a.m.

No order whatsoever to this post, but if you have answers, please do share. I'm not a big fan of unanswered questions and a lot of y'all out there are a good deal smarter than me!

Why are the speed-bumps at 21 Apartments so huge? I mean, are they really that necessary? I drive an SUV and if I drive fast enough over a couple of them, I can scrape my bumper on them. That just shouldn't happen. Those dumb security gates should go away, too.

Did anyone else have problems with Twitter today? (And why does it bother me so much when Twitter's down/slow? Yikes, I guess that's a sign that I think I need it.)

Where in the world did the 20+ blank CDs that I bought to burn all the Korea Study Tour photos end up? And why would someone steal all those blank CDs that I bought with my money from my office? :( (because I'm thinking that's what happened)

Why aren't people dependable anymore? What happened to a sense of responsibility and work ethic? Is that something all college freshmen have to be taught and if so, am I the one supposed to be teaching them that?

Why is Mississippi so humid? Is that a result of the fall?

What in the world am I supposed to do when I graduate?

Why are my neighbors quiet until about 10 p.m. every night? What major are they in that doesn't require any studying or homework? And is it too late for me to switch to that major so I can be a lazy music-listenin', beer-drinkin', drunk singin', loud partyin' student, too? Kidding. :)

Why in the world is it taking the university until September 15 to issue the first student worker paychecks? Who thought that was a good idea? (Thank God for leftover summer job money and Daddy's rent/food money that's only an emergency phone call away.)

And the one that's been puzzling me for days: How do you encourage someone who doesn't share your same worldview? When that person's world seems to be crashing in on them, how do you tell someone that it's going to be okay and that there is Someone who loves them when that person doesn't believe any of that? How do you convince that person that all things happen for a reason and how in the world do you comfort someone in tough situations if that person doesn't believe the truth of the gospel?

So what did I do all summer?

So what was Aubra Whitten up to all summer? And why in the world didn't she blog all summer? You know, I'm so glad you asked...

In May:
-I finished up my junior year as a communication/journalism major at MSU. I finished all my requirements for my English minor, so I'll only be taking a couple of core classes and communication classes in my final year! I think I'm really going to miss English, but not the work load/reading load.
-The day after finishing my junior year, I flew across the world to Seoul, South Korea! I spent two weeks there and in Tokyo, Japan, and had a wonderful experience. If you ever get the opportunity, please go visit both places (I'm especially partial to South Korea!). I did briefly blog about both places and I took tons of photos...if you have Facebook, you can check them out there. If not, just ask me about them. I'll be more than happy to go on and on about how wonderful the trip was!
-I started work in Starkville as a student worker for the Office of Academic Outreach and Continuing Education! (More details on that later.) This was the beginning of my first summer away from home.
-I gained another cousin when my cousin Rebecca married her husband Josh! Beautiful wedding and reception - love both of them.

In June:
-Managed to spend only two weekends in Mississippi (the rest were spent in Memphis and Philadelphia - the one in Mississippi, not the other one...for those of y'all not from Mississippi!) Went home for Pash's birthday, and visited new places in Mississippi with Tim and his family.
-Started my second student worker job as a writer and photographer for Vision, the magazine for the College of Arts & Sciences.
-Continued working my first student worker job, doing a little bit of everything - WalMart runs, errands around campus, helping with engineering conferences, filing papers, writing promotional pieces, working in Excel and Word, doing research and brainstorming for the office, filling in the for the secretary...almost every day was something different! I was hired to work as an assistant for all the childrens' camps, and those were a lot of fun. We had two weeks of art camp and one week of international camp, where I got to work with college students in the ESL program as well as Starkville kids. It was great to spend all day with them!
-Sorted through interviews and applications at The Reflector (the campus newspaper)

In July:
-Again, managed to only spend one or two weekends in Mississippi (the rest were in Memphis and Vicksburg).
-Continued working at Memorial Hall doing office work and kids camps. We did two computer camps and one dance camp. Needless to say, dance camp wore me out every day...but the girls were precious!
-Thanked the Lord for graciously giving me a free parking pass for campus (I had been walking to work every day) - Mississippi is HOT all the time, but especially in July!
-Continued working as a writer/photographer for Vision Magazine
-Enjoyed getting to know Brian Sorgenfrei, RUF's new campus minister at State. He and his wife Liza (and baby Shelby) are a great blessing from the Lord, and I look forward to getting to know them better this year. Please pray for RUF's ministry on campus; pray that the gospel would go forth and that students would come to know Christ.

In August:
-Finished working at Memorial Hall. It was a great job with wonderful coworkers and bosses!
-Finished working as a writer/photographer for Vision. It too was a great job and gave me wonderful experience! I got to write about a big variety of things-physicists helping the US Army, an undergrad doing an internship with the National Weather Service, two faculty members working to help our departments and campus as a whole be more green, and looked at some of the research and field work going on in the newly-formed anthropology department!
-Got to go home for two weeks and visit with my family and friends. It was a great summer, but it was very strange being away from home the majority of the time!
-Headed back to Starkville, started my senior year (my, oh my, I'm an old woman).
-Started back to work at The Reflector (Mississippi State's student-run, independent newspaper) as the managing editor. We've published four issues to date, and you can read us online at www.reflector-online.com or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/reflectoronline. And nope, I'm not ashamed of that shameless plug right there...I would love more readers. :) It's been a very challenging and stressful job, but I knew that going into it. Please do be praying for myself and the rest of the staff.
-Have been able to hang out with new friends that I met in Korea! About 61 Korean students are here for 9 months at State - please pray they would meet American friends and enjoy their time here. I have loved having them here.

So, what's on tap for this semester? One, I'm going to start blogging more. (Really. I mean it. Hold me to it, okay?) I have a teacher that recently warned us that she's going to require us to blog and answer questions via a class blog, so I figured I might as well get back into it. Two, I am prayerfully considering where the Lord wants me this time next year. I'm taking the GRE this semester (have my practice test on Saturday!), but I still have no idea what I'm doing. I'm burned out on journalism and the market is awful for journalists, so I'm considering quite a few things (including paralegal school, getting my MBA, getting an English/TESOL master's degree, getting a master's in education so I could teach English or journalism). I'm leaning toward the MBA idea, but I'm not positive. Please pray that the Lord would direct me!

Back in the good ol' USA

Hey everyone - I made it back to Memphis around 11 p.m. last night, and our whole group arrived safe and sound! Thanks for your prayers and I'll be posted more updates, photos (via Facebook and Flickr), etc. during the next two weeks. Be patient...I've got about 3000+ photos to sort and edit! :)

Sorry for no updates!

Hey everyone! We landed safely in Japan on May 13 (maybe it was the 14th? My days are all running together!) and I'm sorry I haven't updated the blog or posted pictures to Flickr. Internet is $1 for five minutes over here! That was just a little too expensive for me, so I'll just update everyone later.

We fly home today (well, sort of - I fly out of Tokyo today at 3 and land in Seoul at 6, fly to Chicago and land at 9, then fly to Memphis and land at 10:30. technically with the time changes, that's all on May 16!) Tokyo has been fun and CRAZY - it's like nothing I've ever seen before.

I've got to run - time to go clean the room at the hostel and check out!

Sad to leave

So...tears were shed tonight at dinner and the bar...we hate to leave our new friends in Korea! They have been so wonderful, hospitable, generous, kind, and welcoming, and we hate the thought of not seeing them for a very long time. We ended our goodbyes with "See you soon" in an attempt to make things less sad. I do hope that we will see our dear friends from KNU again very soon and I am excited about several of them joining us at MSU for a year starting this August.

Today was fun but very bittersweet...oh, and yesterday was incredible. Go look at Flickr if you want to see what all we got to do! :) We are all getting weary, but we are excited about Japan. Our bus will be at the hotel to pick us up at 5 a.m., which is in about four hours for me, so I'm getting to bed. 'Night, and hopefully I'l be able to update from Japan!

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is Mother's Day back in the good ol' USA, so happy mother's day to my mom and everyone else reading. We are thankful for y'all!

Once again, I have stayed up too late to write much of anything, but here are some highlights:
Saturday (Friday for those of you in the US), my group of 10 MSU students and our guides from Kyungpook National University met up with the 10 MSU students and their guides from Catholic University of Daegu to visit Kyungju, a historical area that's about an hour or so from our current location. It was really interesting to tour areas with Buddhist temples, learn a lot of history, and see the tombs of some of the kings and queens. It was a lot to take in and we walked all day, but it was very worthwhile. After that, we met up with our home stay families. Joshua and I were paired together with a KNU college student, her parents, and one of her friends. We went and got American food (McDonald's!), then went to the market to buy food for breakfast and for our picnic lunch the next day. Today, our homestay girls took us hiking and we cooked outside and played in a stream - it was so much fun. They took us to a friend's house in the mountains, and it was rural and BEAUTIFUL. They actually have a guesthouse that they rent to people because the area is so pretty. Honestly, you could vacation or honeymoon there, and I had no idea that thought would ever cross my mind about a place in South Korea!

I don't have time to tell all the details now, but let me just say that so far, home stay has been my favorite part of the trip! Let's just say that it was great and I wish it could have been longer. :)

All right, it's bedtime. We're headed to Buson (the beach) tomorrow!

I ran out of room on Flickr

I ran out of room on Flickr tonight...whoops. Guess that's what I get for taking huge pictures and not resizing them! Anyway, here are the links to my two Flickr accounts; the first one is full and the second one will hopefully last me for the rest of the trip. Those of you that have Facebook, I'll be putting a lot more up on there eventually. :)
First Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37920946@N04/
Second Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/38159752@N05/

Oh, to all the parents reading this - Happy Parents' Day! In Korea, they don't celebrate Mother's Day or Father's Day, just Parents' Day. The students told us that they buy their parents flowers and sometimes gifts, but as one guy put it, "I am the best gift to my parents." :) He said he was going home to enjoy an evening with his sisters and parents, so quality time with his family was going to be his gift.

Today was a fun, very busy day! We started off the morning with a lovely American breakfast from Dunkin' Donuts! We were all very excited about American breakfast food. We like Korean food, but it gets very interesting for breakfast. Americans don't usually do tomatoes, spicy foods, or rice for breakfast. :)

After breakfast, we went to our second Korean language class. We attempted to learn our numbers and some "shopping" and "taxi" language (how much is this, please take me to this place, etc.) Our teacher was so nice and very dressed up. It seems to be a pattern here with most of the women/girls - they love dressing up! (or maybe they don't love it, but they just do it) They have no problems walking in stilettos up some pretty decent hills and steps!

Following Korean class, we went to a short lecture on Korean history and culture just for our group. We then got to sit in on a class at the university taught in English on Korean culture, traditions, history, etc. It was really interesting and there was a lot of dialogue going on throughout the class. It was a mixed group, too; we had Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, Americans, and several other countries represented. Kyungpook really is a national university!

We then grabbed lunch on campus, which was delicious! (It was a really good day for food...at least in my opinion.) I had something similar to fried rice. That's not what it's called in Korea, but I don't remember the actual name. It had chicken and crab in it and it was yummy.

After lunch, we headed to calligraphy class! We learned how to mix the ink, grind it, dip the brush, hold the brush, and make our strokes. It was more difficult than it looks! I did learn how to write my name and I'm pretty excited about that. I have a sheet with my name and "Korea" written on it, so that will be coming home with me to go on my fridge...hah...either that or I'm giving it to Mom as my lovely "artwork." :)

We then headed to the international students' lounge and chilled there for a little bit. They brought in a whole group of Korean students who will be studying at MSU in the fall, and it was so exciting to meet them. They are nervous about coming to the States, but they were so sweet and their English is really great. All but one of them are English majors! We then ate pizza and chicken - American food! - sort of. The chicken was very American. The pizza was a little bit different. In Korea, they put cheese, sauce, ham, onion, and potatoes on the pizza! It was very good, but it was interesting to have potatoes on a pizza. They also serve pickles along with the pizza. When I asked why, they said that pizza is very heavy and they like a side dish that's lighter and had a different texture. Sounds like good reasoning to me!

We finished out the night by watching a Korean movie. I don't know the title, but I got confused because they said it was a comedy. It had funny parts, but it was a war movie and people died...so we were all wondering why they were telling us it was a comedy. Oh well.

Tomorrow we take a tour of a historical (former capital city) area near Daegu, then we leave the hotel to spend a day or two with our host families! (Just FYI, I may not have Internet for the next day or two, so there might not be new pictures/posts for a couple of days.) I'm excited and can't wait, but must get to bed! :)

More Korea

Sorry for no update yesterday. I answered some e-mails, uploaded some photos, and then got too tired to update the blog.

Yesterday, we visited Korea Foundation where we got to dress up in traditional Korean garb, learned some history, learned how to conduct a formal tea ceremony, explored a traditional Korean house, and did some cooking. It was a lot of of fun! We then ate a traditional Korean lunch and then split up into our university groups. The two groups headed to Daejon had a four hour bus ride (that included me), so we then headed out to ride the bus. After meeting several university students, we went out for dinner and drinks.

Today, at Kyungpook National University (KNU), our group of 10 enjoyed a more modern Korean breakfast, then went to the university for orientation. After orientation, we received a one-hour campus tour and lunch (chicken noodle soup with the whole chicken inside of it! I've got to post that picture later). Following lunch, we went to Korean language class (I learned that I'm not very good at speaking Korean or learning a new alphabet - shocking, I know) and then taekwondo class (also not very good at that either, but again, no surprise). We then went to dinner with our new friends from KNU! There was some interesting stuff at dinner, including squid...

It's getting late and I'm ready for bed. New photos have been posted to Flickr, so please check them out! The link is listed in the post below this one.

Photos from Korea

I'm having trouble posting photos on Blogger, so please view them via our group Flickr stream:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37920946@N04

Sorry for not updating yesterday. I finally got around to answering e-mails, which meant I had no energy for a blog update. Maybe more tonight - I'm getting ready for breakfast and have just packed to head off to my university for the next six days!

We made it to Korea!

Whew, we made it to Korea! I just got in after going going going all day long, and I am so ready for bed, so here are the top five surprises/thoughts for the day:

1. The drivers here are INSANE! Never before have I seen such madness. It puts New York and Memphis to shame.
2. They have really complicated toilets here...like really complicated - heated seats, air that blows, a complementary noisemaker so you don't have to hear yourself or anyone else using the bathroom, etc. It took me a minute today to figure out which button to push to get it to flush!
3. We're staying at a nice youth hostel, but surprisingly, our showers are essentially what eighth grade guys in a locker room have (yes, even the girls' showers!). Thought it would be weird, but we all agreed to laugh about it and go with the flow. We were all so glad to get five minute showers this morning before starting our tour. We had gone about 29 hours without showers...ugh.
4. The buildings here are RIDICULOUSLY tall. Pictures will prove this point later.
5. South Koreans are extremely hospitable. We met several MSU alumni tonight for dinner, and they showed us how to eat and mix our food, as well as making sure we all enjoyed the drinks (it's considered rude if you don't drink with them). After dinner, they proceeded to take us out for more drinks and karaoke! I stayed for a little bit, but left early because I'm dying to get to bed.

Pictures will be coming...the Internet is too slow tonight.

Heading to South Korea! (and Japan)

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates...it's been a crazy semester. It's now finals weeks and I'm three exams and a paper away from being a senior! Exciting. :)

I wanted to let y'all know that I'll be traveling to South Korea and Japan May 2-16 with the Global Leadership Program at Mississippi State University. Part of my responsibilities during the trip include posting pictures and writing blog posts, so expect to see some updates over the next two weeks!

Included below is our group photo (minus a few of us because they took it the day before spring break began). There's about 40 students going, plus a professor and several graduate students. Be thinking of us and praying for safe travels as we're over there! I'll let y'all know how wonderful and exciting the 15-hour flights are... ;)

How to save money on textbooks

Confession: It's day two of the spring semester here at Mississippi State and I'm already irritated. Why? TEXTBOOKS ARE WAY TOO EXPENSIVE.

Grumbling about the cost of four small books for my ethics class, I ran into two friends at our bookstore. Their professor sent them to the bookstore for a "textbook:" photocopied pages contained in a five star ring notebook. The price? EIGHTY DOLLARS.

Here's what Barnes and Noble (our authorized campus bookstore) estimates for my spring semester. Keep in mind, I'm taking five classes with a combined total of eight books:
Used: $406.80 (average price: $50.85 per book)
New: $542.40 (average price: $67.80 per book)

That's absolutely TERRIBLE. I'm a communication major, so I can only imagine what it is for engineering majors, especially with all the custom-edition books out there. (Custom-edition is code for really expensive books written by a professor at your university. These books cannot be resold, even at the authorized campus bookstore.) Granted, the authorized campus bookstore is never where you want to go buy your books, but it gives you an estimate as to what most college students are currently facing these days.

Let's face it - most of us don't have that kind of money for textbooks. If I bought all those required books, I would be spending all the money I made over Christmas break, which is supposed to cover my food, gas, Internet, and part of rent for the rest of the semester. Not happening.

Here are my suggestions and alternatives for students:
1. Go around and start begging for books. Put in your Facebook status ("I need books for sociology, nutrition, and geography", etc.), tell your friends, ask your teachers, etc.
2. Don't really need to buy the book? Your school library (or an area library) may have it. (I just reserved my sociology book for a couple of weeks until the copy I bought comes in the mail.) If they don't have it, ask about an interlibrary loan.
3. Try the off campus bookstores in your area. Let's face it: the authorized campus bookstore is getting kickbacks (in some form or fashion) to charge you an arm and a leg for overpriced textbooks. Fight the system and visit your local stores to compare prices.
4. After visiting the bookstores (and obtaining the ISBN numbers, authors, and edition numbers), venture online to see what other students are selling their used books for. My personal favorite sites are Half (the sister site of Ebay), Amazon, and AbeBooks. By the way, if the campus bookstore won't your books back, try selling them online (I just listed two of mine today).
5. Still not happy? Trying renting your textbooks online. It sounds crazy, but it works and saves money. The site I've used is Chegg, but I almost used BookRenter this semester because it temporarily beat one Chegg's prices. The great thing about Chegg is the company plants a tree for every book you rent - pretty neat. They even send you an e-mail letting you know where your tree(s) were planted. They have excellent customer service and both web sites do a great job explaining how things work.
6. Bought a ton of books last semester and the school bookstore won't take them back? Don't worry, there are lots of students still looking for those books. Put them online using Half or Amazon. I use Half and it's really easy. If you're trying to sell custom editions (books specifically for your university), try advertising them using the Marketplace on Facebook and search Facebook for groups that resell/list books.

Let me know what you're doing to save money on books this semester (or what you've done in the past).