Aubra Whitten

Dear Reflector crew (and anyone else who saw my Facebook profile picture today)

2012-02-22T18:15:00.002-06:00

Photo credit: CJ LeMaster

Today marks the second year that I'm without a dear friend and college coworker, Adam. If you saw my Facebook profile picture change to the Radiohead bear today, this letter (see below) will help explain why. (You can read what I've previously written about Adam here, or read April's two blog posts here, or read Hannah's blogpost here. You can also read the editorial Kyle wrote the week that everything happened here.)

Today, The Reflector crew is celebrating Adam in Starkville by reading Dr. Seuss's "Oh The Places You'll Go!" in their staff meeting. They're also eating cupcakes from the State Fountain Bakery. (April and I thought it wouldn't be a proper reading or celebration without some delicious bakery sweets.) Most of them are younger, so they never had the chance to know Adam. April and I crafted this letter to help them understand why they're celebrating.

To my family and friends — I love y'all dearly and am so thankful for each one of you. The Lord has used y'all mightily in my life, and I am a better person for knowing each of you.

Today is my personal reminder to love others well and love them out loud. Don't ever forget to tell each other how grateful and thankful you are for each other, and be quick to encourage one another.

Dear Reflector crew,

Wehope today is a little bit of a celebration. (Hope the delivery helps y’allcelebrate since we can’t be there in person to help!) After talking about it,we realized most of y’all never knew Adam, and that’s a shame. Adam was one ofthose people who you love to have in the office. He was a hard worker, and wentabove and beyond his job description to make our lives easier. He was great athis job, and continually looked to make The Reflector better. There were somany little things he did behind the scenes simply because he wanted us to bebetter — he saved us so many times by catching little embarrassing errors. Healways wanted the finished product to be the very best we could do.

Adamwas a great friend. You know how y’all pull those crazy long hours and don’tget any decent food? (not to mention sleep, social time outside of the office,weekends off, etc.) Adam was quick to go grab Abner’s, Zaxby’s, etc. (in otherwords, good, off campus food) — and he did so night after night, andwould even buy you food if you couldn’t pay him back right away.

Hewas really thoughtful and looked out for us. During his final year at thepaper, several of us on staff couldn’t drive to campus — we walked or carpooledwith roommates every day. On late nights or rainy afternoons, Adam willinglytook all of us to our houses and apartments. He wouldn’t hear of us walkinghome alone in the dark.

LosingAdam was devastating. He was an incredible asset to our team, and brought lotsof laughter, hard work, diligence and talent to our group. When we lost him, welost a family member. But instead of dwelling on how hard it was to lose him,we’ve chosen to remember a dear friend who loved us well and encouraged us todo our best at work. While most of you never knew him, we hope you can get aglimpse of just how special he was. You would have loved to be on staff withhim.

Wecould go on and on about how great Adam was, but we would need a whole ream ofpaper from Ms. Denise. :) So please ask Hannah, Julia, or Mrs. McDavid forsome of their stories — and listen to them. In honor of Adam, enjoy the reading(as Hannah will tell you, the book is courtesy of Adam’s sweet parents) and thebakery treats. (They were some of Adam’s favorites … but then again, he likedalmost everything from the bakery!) Feel free to blare Radiohead in your car,dance to Lady Gaga, ride a Bully Bike through the office, change your InDesignlanguage to Russian, wear a cheap plastic ring on your finger all day, stealJulia’s scarf and dress up with it, re-hide the “Sword of Truth” somewhere inthe office, write each other funny notes on yellow Post-Its and paste them allover the Macs, go take random photos, fall out of your chair at the office,come up with hilarious headlines and cutlines, make a ReflectorCat house ad …you get the idea.

Mostimportantly, remember to tell each other that you’re thankful for one anotherand be grateful you get to spend time with each other. Rally around each otherand encourage one another. (And this doesn’t just apply to your coworkers. Tellyour friends, your family, those who you care about and those who care aboutyou.) Don’t let people forget that you love them and are thankful for them. Weknow it sounds cheesy, but we mean it — don’t regret never taking the time totell someone how grateful and appreciative you are for them, and how much theymean to you.

We’rethankful for y’all and love y’all. We hope you celebrate Adam, friendship, goodwork, laughter and memories today.

Love,

April (Editorin Chief, class of 2011) and

Aubra (Managing Editor, class of2010)

Why I didn't pull a Liz Lemon for jury duty

2012-01-29T21:55:00.005-06:00

"I don't really think it's fair for me to be on a jury because I can read thoughts."

- 30 Rock's Liz Lemon (Tina Fey)

Fair warning: this is a little long. Several of my friends and students asked me to blog about my experience, and I promised to do so. (Y'all should comment so that I actually believe you read my blog!)

Back in November, I blogged about getting a summons for jury duty. It wasn't my most favorite Memphis experience ever, but it wasn't awful. I was thankful to be able to "choose" my time slot (they give you a chance to sign up for certain weeks, and I got my second preference), and was thankful that I had a friend serving the same week as me.

In December, I decided it would be wise and way cheaper to use Megabus instead of driving myself to Memphis and spending $100+ on gas. I booked a round-trip ticket for $15.50. (That's right: Atlanta to Memphis, Memphis to Atlanta for $15.50. If you travel, you really should check them out — they're legit, not sketchy, and the buses are clean and have outlets & free WiFi.) I worked it out to park at my friend Erin's house for the week, and she was graciously going to take me to the bus stop (you can't park your car there). Mom would pick me up Monday night, and was going to let me drive her car all week. She would take me back to the bus stop on Saturday morning, and Rachael would pick me up in Atlanta that afternoon, then I'd head back to Kennesaw. Simple.

That Monday was MLK Day. I had RUF staff meeting that morning, and was on the interstate just before noon. Typically, it takes me about 30-40 minutes to get to the bus stop, and my bus was leaving at 1:30. Assuming I didn't hit major traffic, I was going to be fine. But after five months of living this close to Atlanta, I should have known — never ever ever assume you're not going to hit major traffic. Leave way earlier than you need to — not just 45 minutes.

At 12:40, I exited the interstate and had three miles to drive to get to Erin's. I sat in traffic for 20 minutes because I had to drive right by an MLK center, and it was clearly having a program or something. When I got to Erin's, it was 1 p.m. We parked my car and headed out. We only had to go 2.3 miles to get to the stop, and Google Maps said there wasn't any traffic.

(Sometimes, Google Maps lies. I'm sure it's an accident, but it still happens.)

Low and behold, downtown Atlanta was packed. There was an MLK 5K that day, which caused lots of streets to be blocked off. Since the 5K was there, the Occupy Atlanta movement (still going strong here) had been moved a bit, causing more streets to be blocked off. (And no, Google Maps was still not showing any blinking red lines on the traffic maps. I checked.)

Erin was awesome, and kept driving until we found a way to get to the bus stop. Only problem — it was now 1:28. I jumped out of her car and ran up the first attendant I saw: "Is this the bus to Memphis?" The woman looked at me like I was nuts. "Nope." She pointed way down the street. "That one was."

Fail. I could still see the bus as it drove down the street. Fail.

Erin drove me back to her house, and I promptly got back into my car and drove myself to Memphis. So much for saving money on gas. (Don't worry about me spending money — see the end of this post.)

I arrived in Memphis that evening with no problems — just tired and not super happy with myself for missing the bus. Oh well. It was nice to see my parents, eat home cooked food, and watch TV on the couch before going to bed.

The next morning, I had to report at 8:30. I got up at 6:45 (ouch), ate, and had pulled out of my driveway by 7:35 — a little later than I had planned, but still good to go. I knew where I was going, and I knew where I wanted to park.

According to the radio, there were not one, not two, but THREE major accidents within a span of four miles from my house. My little easy 30 minutes-tops-straight-shot down Poplar turned into a nightmare. It took me 30 minutes to go about four miles — but after that, it was smooth sailing.

Almost.

So I'm literally a block from the Justice Center. I can see the building, I can see the expensive parking areas — I'm sitting at a red light at Danny Thomas and Poplar, and it's 8:12. I've cut it a little close, but I'm totally going to make it.

And then the light turns green. And then I hit the gas. And then ... my car won't go.

I almost burst into tears. For those of you who don't know me well — I am not a crier. (If you've ever seen me cry, it's because: 1. You're family. 2. You've seen me at a funeral. 3. You're a former roommate. 4. You worked with me at The Reflector during the 2010 spring semester. 5. You're someone I really love and trust. 6. A combination of the previous five statements.)

What did I do? Exactly what any girl does when something goes wrong — called Mom, then called Dad. Hands shaking, hazard lights flashing, wordlessly apologizing to everyone at the intersection, eyes watering uncontrollably, voice shaking over the phone — Mom graciously agreed to come meet me, but told me to call Dad to ask what to do with the car.

It's 8:21 and all I can think is, "They're totally putting out a bench warrant for me. They're filing contempt of court, and there's going to be a warrant for my arrest." Ridiculous, huh? (In all honesty, yes, they do this, but not if you're 15 minutes late. Duh.)

I called the justice department's secretary and informed her that my car had died, but I would be there as soon as I possibly could. Then I had the presence of mind to turn my car off and try restarting it.

Praise Jesus — it started right up, and I promptly pulled into the closest (and most expensive) parking lot I could find. There was $5 parking around the corner, but I didn't care — my car had made it into a parking lot, and I was not going to risk it dying again just to save $7.

I jogged past 201 Poplar (that's the infamous jail/criminal courthouse for all you non-Memphians, and good gracious, it is a sight to behold on a Tuesday morning after a long holiday weekend!) and jumped straight into a room of 400 other jurors. Not a seat to be found — oh well, no worries. That's what I get for being late.

Side note and slight rant here — not one man offered to give me his seat. In all honesty, I didn't mind; I'm 24 years old, healthy, and perfectly able to stand. (Good thing — those of us who were late ended up standing for almost three hours!) The thing that killed me was that many women came in right after me, and they were all older than me. One woman was on oxygen — and still not one man offered her his seat. To every healthy guy I know: If I ever see you do this, I'm revoking every single one of your man cards and you will not get them back. Ever. I'm serious. I know chivalry is not dead. I just spent five days in New York and (on several occasions) watched men offer their seats to women on crowded subways. Seriously guys — be a gentleman and offer the woman your seat, especially if she's over age 50 and especially if she's on oxygen!

OK, back to the jury duty tale. After three hours of listening to the commissioner, the rules, a judge thanking us for serving, lots of dumb questions (never ceases to amaze me what people want to know), and a roll call that took 20 minutes (it was hilarious to see adults trying to re-master this elementary skill), they started calling us for juries.

Guess who got called in the last round for criminal court, circuit 9?

"Oh, it's a criminal case, but it's probably just something little," I remember thinking as I followed the deputy.

After getting escorting upstairs and waiting for 30 minutes, the woman next to let out a low gasp. "Do you know who that is?" she whispered, pointing to a lawyer who had just exited our courtroom.

"No ma'am — I'm guessing a well-known lawyer?"

She whispered a name, looked at my confused face, and said, "He was one of Mary Winkler's lawyers!"

Uh oh. I suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that this case I was about to serve on wasn't going to be something little. (And if you're not familiar with Mary Winkler, in a nutshell: she shot & killed her husband, served a little time, and now has her three children back with her. I never cite Wikipedia, but in this cases, just read the Wikipedia entry for further details. It made national news, but I knew about it mainly because of all the Memphis/local attention.)

Three hours later (they gave us two hours for lunch, and we had to wait another hour), the deputy announced to our group of 40 that 14 of us had been randomly selected by the computer as the first potential jurors (12 jurors, 2 alternates).

Guess who was juror #7?

My juror badge. It's now serving me as a bookmark.

I filed into the courtroom and took my seat in the jury box. Besides one young man sitting behind two lawyers (I figured he was the accused, and it turns out that he was), I looked like I was the only one in my twenties. I tried not to fidget under the bright spotlights and tried to be still in the wooden swivel chair as the judge began to talk to all of us. (But hey, I had been in a car for 6.5 hours the day before, then spent 3 hours standing that morning. I don't think I was very still. Oh well.)

His voice took a deeper turn as he said the charges were very serious.

I had joked with people about what I would do if I found out it was a murder trial. Personally, I think it would be hilarious to pull a Liz Lemon — minus the whole "everything you say is under oath, so don't lie because we'll send you to jail." Yeah. I was not about to do that ... but good grief, I did not want to get sequestered! (30 Rock fans — the full 30 second video of Tina Fey is here.)

The case wasn't murder. It was rape, which, as the judge said, "Rape is next worse thing to murder. In some cases, it might even be worse."

Yikes. This is not what I wanted for my first jury duty.

The judge talked to us for about 20 minutes, and then the prosecution got up and talked to us. The prosecution was two female lawyers from the state — persuasive, pretty, and poised. (Like my cheesy alliteration? I couldn't resist. It was all true. I love the classiness and poise of female lawyers — ignore my sweeping generalization.) Two men made up the defense — and yes, one of those lawyers is a well-known Memphian who was one of Mary Winkler's lawyers! (He wasn't the one who had walked out earlier, but they're partners in the same firm.) The men weren't quite as charming — in fact, it was really hard to hear the main one when he spoke to us, and he looked really tired.

The judge and both sides asked us questions for at least an hour. We were all required to give our names, our occupations, if we had a significant other (spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend), what our significant other's occupation was, and how long we had been together. Both sides took turns asking us questions — some personal like, "Have you ever been directly affected by a sexual crime?" and "Have you had any significant trauma in your life? If so, please elaborate" and some not as personal like, "So, Ms. Whitten, you work with college-aged girls? Does your job involve a lot of listening and meeting with girls?"

Yeah, after answering that question with a definitive "yes," I figured I was getting kicked off the jury. Excellent.

The deputy gave each side a slip of paper to write down names for preemptory challenges. (This means that both sides get the chance to kick of jurors without saying why.) It took the defense a while to decide, but the prosecution was quick. The judge read out five names — and mine wasn't one of them.

Rats.

Then it got quiet again, and those of us still left on the stand tried to figure out what was going on ... oh, both sides had another piece of paper ... so there's a round two.

Apparently the prosecution wrote a big "0" because they were finished in all of five seconds. The defense took forever. That's when my curious/journalist brain started going: I looked at those of us left and noticed that I was the only woman left on the jury who had said, "Yes, I have a boyfriend." Hmm. That made me think it was a boyfriend/girlfriend case. Three of the five kicked off admitted to knowing the "famous" defense lawyer and/or had a family member who he had represented. A fourth juror who said she was probably going to sympathize with the victim was kicked off. (That's one foolproof way to get yourself kicked off a trial!) The fifth juror seemed visibly tired and her job involved lab reports/tox screens at a hospital — though she said she never worked with rape kits.

Then the judge called out my name and another woman's name.

Yesssssssss!

The prosecution lawyers looked at the two of us sadly as we walked out (I think they thought we would have been sympathetic to their client) and whispered, "Sorry. Thanks, ladies."

We waited outside the courtroom, and the deputy came back outside. "Good news. Y'all are good to go home. See you in ten years and thanks for doing your civic duty."

As I walked back to my car (which started right up!), I should have found myself pretty irritated over the fact that I paid $15.50 for a bus I missed, spent $65 on gas (so far — that was just one-way), had my car die, pay $12 for parking and $7 for lunch in the rain (jurors only get paid $11/day in Memphis), stood for three hours because I was late, get assigned to criminal court, and then almost get placed on a rape trial. Instead, I found myself laughing at the craziness of all of it and thanking Jesus that my car had died in Memphis that day and not the day before in the middle of nowhere Alabama or Mississippi.

Thanks to my car woes, I stayed in Memphis for a few days getting it repaired. $495 later, it is running great! (It had been revving occasionally for months ... it doesn't do that anymore. Excellent.) And don't worry about the money for the repair and gas— my RUF account is healthy and has an emergency fund, so we are good to go. I will not be forced to eat ramen and crackers for the next month. (Have I mentioned RUF takes really good care of us? They do.)

Moral of this story? If you move states (or move somewhere else in your state), change your address, but also change your car tags and driver's license. If you don't, you are legally bound to show up for jury duty! (I didn't change mine because I'm trying to keep Tennessee residency — so yes, I totally deserved having to serve this time.)

There you have it — my jury duty epic novel. Here's to hoping I don't get summoned for federal court anytime soon.

New York update

2012-01-26T21:14:00.000-06:00

This is my last "I'm super late updating the blog" post. And I'm going to excuse it a little bit because I started it over Christmas break in Memphis, but the Internet at my parents was just too slow to handle all the photos ... then I just got lazy and didn't update it once I got back to Kennesaw.

Way back in September, I realized I had a flight credit (thanks to a canceled flight this past summer) with Southwest that I needed to use fairly soon. I had planned on using it towards my May 2012 summer conference trip, but long story short, that just wasn't going to work. I told Stephen the dilemma, and he said, "You should go to New York for Christmas."

Um, yes of course. Why didn't I think of that?

So, I booked my trip in September and got a deal on tickets. I flew out of Nashville (because Atlanta doesn't get Southwest until February), but that was no big deal. I went a day earlier and stayed with my friend Hannah and her husband Caleb, who graciously watched over my car for the time I was gone. Despite it being 30 degrees, we hit up my favorite Nashville ice cream place — Jeni's. I miss that place! Then when I flew back into New York, I got to spend the night with my Murfreesboro roomie Tara, and visited with Mallory, the Vandy intern. Nashville was a nice bonus in the New York trip.

In New York, I stayed with one of my best friends — Madeline — from high school. She just got her master's from Christie's (you know, the place that just auctioned off all the Elizabeth Taylor collection? Yeah, no big deal), and she's staying in New York job hunting. She is a fabulous hostess, and graciously took me all around the city to do the not-so-touristy things. We ate lots of good food, saw lots of interesting art, did some shopping, did some more eating, you get the idea. I also got to catch up with two friends from journalism school — so great to see them and catch up.

I did take a ton of photos. I don't want this post to be forever long, so here are some highlights:

We saw lots of art. Here's just one of many pieces.

Some galleries were better than others. Yes, those are trash bags filled with aluminum cans.

Madi said it's a critique of our society, talking about waste and consumption. I get that ... but still.

Madi & her boyfriend threw a fabulous Christmas party. Tacky Christmas

wear was encouraged — thus my ridiculous fleece hat.

Us at the Museum of Natural History — origami tree!

Madi had a department Christmas party one night, so I went exploring.

And this series of photos is what happened that night.

These soldiers were everywhere at Rockefeller Plaza

The light show area at Rockefeller Plaza.

Rockefeller Center — the ice rink is right below this.

Rockefeller Center in the background — huge!

The most touristy thing I did was visiting Top of the Rock (top of the Rockefeller Center).

I was SO cold, but it was totally worth it. Best view of the city ... in my humble opinion.

My last night in the city, we went to the New York City Ballet's Nutcracker.

(This is outside the theater — you can't take photos inside.) It was so wonderful! Plus, a guy

proposed to his girlfriend during intermission (so sweet to see hundreds of strangers

cheering and clapping), and Kelly Ripa walked right by us in the lobby after the

performance. (She's cute and really tiny!)

That's not everything ... but I don't want to bore y'all. So fun to visit Madi (thanks for being a wonderful hostess!), and such a great way to start Christmas break. If you ever get the chance to visit New York at Christmas, do it!

Fall semester part 2 - photo edition

2012-01-18T23:18:00.001-06:00

As promised, here's part two of the semester at Kennesaw! (Next up is the New York update ...)

In November, Georgia Tech hosted the first-ever semiformal for all the Georgia schools with RUF: GA Tech, UGA, Kennesaw, Mercer, Emory, Georgia Southern, and SCAD. The theme was the 1920's, and Kennesaw absolutely rocked it. It was so fun to get dressed up, visit with other RUF students, and dance the night away at the Georgia Tech's Alumni House.

The Kennesaw crew

Interns at the semiformal: Jake (Southern Miss) came to visit Rachael (Emory)

Thanks to Emily C (who works for RUF's main office in Atlanta), our girls Bible study was able to help NightLight Atlanta with their Christmas project — wrapping 100 Jesus Storybook Bibles and 100 giftbags for children who live in at-risk areas. NightLight Atlanta is "a faith-based, grassroots movement that addresses the complex issues of commercial sexual exploitation through prevention, intervention, restoration, and education. NightLight Atlanta seeks to mobilize the Body of Christ to loose the chains of injustice, while partnering with local law enforcement and service providers to set the captives free." (from NightLight Atlanta's website) Emily invited us to come help write notes in the Bibles, wrap them, and fix gift bags for the kids. Two of our girls who live in the area were able to attend the Christmas party and meet some of the kids.

The girls writing notes in each Bible before wrapping them.

The girls who wrote, wrapped, and tied ribbons — thanks for hosting us, Emily!

Part of the fun of Kennesaw and Atlanta is trying all the yummy food places around the area. One of said places is Big Pie in the Sky, which has been featured on Man vs. Food. (The challenge: 11 pounds of carnivore pizza — two people have one hour to eat it all and not throw up. Sick dog. It's $50 to try, but if you win, you get $250.) The pizza slices are as large as a baby, and they're cheap. We visited Big Pie in the Sky right before exams — pizza is brain food, right?

See what I mean about the slice?

To close out the semester, we had a Christmas party at my apartment. We wore tacky Christmas sweaters, ate tons of delicious food, had a gingerbread house competition (the guys beat the girls), sang some Christmas carols, played Christmas charades, and watched "A Christmas Story." It was wonderful to have everyone over — I'm very glad to have an apartment big enough to host people!

Singing Christmas songs — we had a full house!

The crew — so so so thankful for them!

That is our fall semester in a photographic nutshell. Thank you again for your prayers and support!

Fall semester part I — the photo edition

2012-01-11T11:04:00.000-06:00

I figured since it's now January and we're into our spring semester, I should give a brief update on last semester! (As a side note, one of my New Year's resolutions was to blog more. We'll see how that goes.) Here's part one:

In September, Kennesaw RUF joined with UGA, Georgia Tech, Alabama A&M, Samford, Emory, and Mercer for fall conference in Temple, Georgia. We had a great time of fellowship and teaching, and the weather was wonderful.

Most of the Kennesaw crew at fall conference

One of the fun things about transferring has been exploring a new city — mainly Atlanta, but Kennesaw and surrounding areas are fun, too. Jennifer and I hit up an apple festival in Ellijay — who knew that Georgia was famous for apples as well as peaches?

This is what happens when you ask a random guy to take a picture — dark, but hey, we got one!

More fun things about Atlanta — when friends come to visit you for a weekend, you get to go all over town doing things! Two of my college roommates came for a weekend, and we hit up IKEA, Flip Burger, and the Atlanta Aquarium.

Starfish at the aquarium

I went to visit Stephen in Knoxville for a weekend in October, and he surprised me by taking me to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville! It is absolutely beautiful, and we definitely want to go back.

Stephen has all the photos of us together — he took this one outside the house. HUGE.

RUF had staff training in Atlanta for four days at the end of October. A group of us met up in Chattanooga the weekend beforehand to hang out — and celebrate three of our birthdays. Great way to spend my 24th!

The intern crew after church in Chattanooga. Thankful for them!

I got back from staff training and rushed over to campus for what I thought was our weekly girls Bible study ... instead, my sweet students completely caught me off guard by throwing me a surprise party!

Can you tell that the theme they picked was "White Trash Bash"?

To close out October, we did pumpkin carving. I think we did pretty well, don't you?

Mine is the one with the goofy face

The gift of life

2011-12-24T10:01:00.000-06:00

It was January 2007. I was just starting my second semester as a freshman at Mississippi State, and was enrolled in a public speaking class. During one of the first classes, my teacher spoke to us about topic selection, and how to choose a proper topic for your audience. She explained that polarizing issues like abortion, gay marriage, and politics caused disputes, and some of those issues could really be quite personal for some audience members.

She then brought up the topic of organ donation.

"Organ donation?" I remember thinking. "People are opposed to that?"

While I've learned some people are opposed to it, that wasn't the point my teacher was trying to make. She told our class that sometimes certain topics would strike closer to home for audience members; and for her, organ donation was one of those topics.

I don't remember all the details, but long story short, her first child was sick and needed a transplant as the only option for getting better. He didn't get one. If I remember correctly, he wasn't even two years old yet.

That year, when I went home to update my driver's license, I made sure to register as an organ and tissue donor. I had always thought about it, and had even mentioned it to my family, but never made it official. Now, my Tennessee license is signed on the back and I've got a heart stamped on my license photo.

Today, The Commercial Appeal ran a beautiful story by David Waters on how one young man's tragic death resulted in life for five people. While his death is sad, the story is a beautiful picture of redemption — God bringing life and second chances for people close to death. You can read the story about Michael Gilmore here.

If you're not registered as a organ or tissue donor and are not sure how to register, you can visit Donate Life America and select your state for registration information. (Be sure to tell your family members about your plans.) It's easy, and it's quick. As of October 2011, 112,178 people were waiting for an transplant. 1,746 of those are children.

I'm thankful my public speaking teacher shared her story that day. I'm also thankful for people like Michael Gilmore who register their donation wishes and for families like the Gilmores who honor those wishes.

Why I need math: a lesson in my humanity (and humility)

2011-11-28T12:00:00.000-06:00

A humorous heading from one of my
study prep books

I don't like math.

This isn't a recent development. In elementary school, I remember sitting down working multiplication problems thinking, "I don't like this." In middle school, I disliked math even more when variables starting showing up — "Why put English letters (something that I like and understand) in with all these numbers (something I don't like)? Why work one long division problem for 10 minutes? Why can't we agree to just use decimals and no fractions, or vis versa?" Once algebra rolled around in eighth grade, I really hated math. Math was the source of many, many tears from eighth grade through twelfth grade — my brain just doesn't think that way!

(As a side note to any of my former math teachers who might be reading — I'm extremely thankful for y'all and your patience. I liked y'all, just not the subject matter — although I did end up kind of liking Algebra I and II in high school!)

I've made it through 12 school years of math classes, four ACTs and one SAT with math sections, (and hours of lunch break tutoring sessions for those ACT sections — thanks, Mrs. Mars!), and two college math courses — and I've lived! I'm not kidding when I say one of my greatest accomplishments is finishing all those math classes.

I'm 24 now, and I'm faced with more math — the GRE (basically a big version of the SAT) for entrance requirements for masters' programs. I took it in July, and I'm taking the new version tomorrow. The whole test is hard, but I'm dreading the math.

In the past two or so months, I've started to realize the root of why I dread math — it reminds me of something terribly painful. It reminds me that I'm human, which means I'm fallen, which means my brain doesn't work properly. It reminds me that even though I might work for hours and hours, understanding may not come. How frustrating.

Perhaps most painfully, it reminds me that I'm not good at something, no matter how hard I work to understand it or compensate for it. I hate admitting that.

Throughout the years of agonizing over math, I've just told myself that math is something the Lord has used in my life to teach me the importance of working hard. That's certainly true. Until algebra in eighth grade, school came very easily for me. Were it not for upper-level math (and science), I probably would have never learned to work and study hard.

But now, I'm starting to see that teaching me to work hard isn't the sole purpose of this thorn in my flesh. When I sit down to work a math problem, and I can't figure it out, it reminds me that I'm human — I'm broken, messed up, and not perfect. And that's really hard for me to admit. I like having it all together. I despise not being able to figure something out or understand it.

I'm a lot like that in life. I like having it all together. I really hate it when I can't figure something out — whether it's a router, map, computer, whatever. I'm a fixer — if I see something, I want to figure it out and fix it. I'm the same way when I meet with my students — I want to have all the answers, and I hate having to say, "I don't know" or "Let me think about it." Once I've put my mind to it, I don't like having to ask someone else to help me figure it out. Why? — because it means admitting weakness.

Often times, I've found that my cry to the Lord is a simple, "Lord, I just want to understand [insert life problem here — algebra, a relationship, pain, etc.]."

And unlike a true math problem, we don't always get answers in life. We can't always solve the problem. We can't plug the number into the equation and make it work.

Throughout these past few weeks of studying, I've tried to remind myself of the Bible characters who told God, "I don't get it, but OK." I've tried to admit and take my inadequacies to the Lord. As I find myself getting frustrated with a geometry problem, I take a second to mull over a Bible verse or two (usually one about man's best efforts being futile, but God being sovereign over all things).

I still really dislike math, but I'm thankful the Lord is using it again in my life to make me run to Him. Is it painful? You bet. But pain isn't necessarily a bad thing — it just reminds me of my humanity. I don't have to get it all figured out, and honestly, I won't ever get it all figured out. And guess what — that's OK. Jesus never demands that I get it all figured out — He's figured it out for me, and He's done it all perfectly, with no mistakes.

Jury duty

2011-11-20T12:24:00.001-06:00

Several weeks ago, yours truly got summoned for Memphis jury duty.

I know what you're thinking: "No big deal! You live in Atlanta now."

Yes ... however, I haven't changed my residency. When I first moved, I didn't know if I'd want to stay in Georgia for a while, and I was still thinking about grad school in Tennessee. Having lived in Georgia for four months now, I know that I like it, but I'm still not sure if I should try to change my residency. It's just easier to keep it in Tennessee, right? — until you get called for jury duty.

I got my summons several weeks ago and spent about a week and a half calling the office to try to see if I'd be exempt. I wasn't able to get hold of anyone, so I drove 6.5 hours on Thursday to get home to Memphis. (To clarify; I'm OK with serving, and I'm not trying to get out of it. I just wanted to see if I could sign up for a slot without coming home three days early, or if I was somehow exempt because I live out of state.) I'm just glad it was close to Thanksgiving, and I'm thankful my boss was understanding about me having to come home this early.

Reporting for duty was ... an experience. It should have taken me about 35 minutes to get downtown from my house; it took me an hour and 15 minutes. Thankfully, I wasn't late, but I was certainly frazzled.

There are some interesting characters in my hometown — I already knew that. When I entered the room of 5,000 potential jurors, I headed to the back and seated myself. Little did I know I'd be close to a woman who yelled at the judge to "Shut up!" when he greeted us at 9:15 with a cheery "Good morning!" I also didn't know I'd be sitting close to a man who was telling everyone that he couldn't serve because he didn't have a driver's license "due to a run-in with the law," but "they're still gonna make me serve! My buddy served last year on a case, and one of the other jurors was a murderer!" Oh boy.

I made it through jury selection unscathed, and even got my second preferred time slot. Apparently, Shelby County is the only place that allows jurors to select the week that they serve — whew! I'm very thankful for that.

I'm sure I'll have some great stories/meet some great characters when I report back in January for my week. Should be interesting.

A cooking post: chocolate chip pound cake (oh yes!)

2011-11-04T12:24:00.000-05:00

As more of my friends graduate and/or get married, I'm noticing more and more food/cooking blogs popping up everywhere — either my friends are posting links on Facebook, saving them on Pinterest (my latest weakness — add me!), or blogging about what they've cooked lately.

I swore up and down that I wouldn't turn my blog into that — and I'm not, at least not yet. (No offense to my friends — I do like reading your cooking adventures.) However, I promised several girls that I'd post this recipe, so here's one cooking post ... hope you enjoy.

Anyone who knows me (or has ever eaten with me) knows that I have a huge weakness for sweets, especially the really high-carb ones. (Isn't that always how it goes? Ugh.) Several years ago, my mom started making this wonderful chocolate chip pound cake, and now it's definitely one of my top three favorite desserts. She usually makes it for my birthday (that or a cheesecake, which is another top three fav). Since I wasn't home for my birthday this year, I asked her for the recipe. (And sorry I can't cite it, but it's probably from Southern Living.)

It really is pretty easy, and it's SO delicious. I decided to take it with me to girls Bible study — and we (ten or so girls) ate the WHOLE THING in 30 minutes.

Here's the "equipment" you'll need:

Non-stick bundt pan (bought mine at Walmart, and it works great! make sure it's a 12 cup pan)

Hand mixer (you could probably do without it, but it'd be a pain; again, grab a cheap one from Walmart)

Two mixing bowls

Measuring cups & measuring spoons

The cute apron isn't necessary equipment — but oh so recommended.

I mean, who doesn't like Anthropologie's adorable aprons?

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened (make sure it's softened, or it will be a pain!)

1 cup sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (optional: I omitted it because we were out, & it turned out just fine)

1 cup milk (I used lactose-free milk because that's what I drink, but you can use whatever!)

1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips (or ... the whole bag. and of course I used the whole bag — did you need to ask?)

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (our oven cooks too hot, so I adjusted it to 325). Grease your bundt pan, and be sure to grease it well, especially around the middle core/tube area. I recommend using a spray with flour (or just dust the pan with flour after you grease it).

Ready to go!

Cream the butter, sugars, and vanilla. Beat them a while until the mixture is fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time and beat the mixture each time you add an egg.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in another bowl. Add this mixture to the butter/sugars/vanilla mixture alternately with the milk. (So take part of the flour/baking powder/salt mixture and add it, then beat. Then add some of the milk, and beat. Then add more of the flour/baking powder/salt mixture, and beat. Then add more milk ... you get the idea.) Keep it up until the milk and flour/baking powder/salt have been completely beaten into the butter/sugar/vanilla mixture.

It should look smooth like this.

Now for the great part — stir in the mini chocolate chips. Be sure to sneak a few for a taste test (duh).

Don't you love the smell of chocolate?

Pour the mixture into your greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees (again, feel free to adjust if your oven cooks hot) for 60-70 minutes. You may need a little more time, but mine was definitely done at 60 minutes. Do the traditional "stick a toothpick in it" test. Let it sit in the pan for 10 minutes, then flip it onto a large plate. You can put it a cake holder, or you can keep the bundt pan covering it. My mom likes to keep the bundt pan covering it to help seal in the moisture — I definitely recommend that, especially if you're going to be serving it over a number of days. It helps keep it from getting too dry.

Don't panic if it looks a little brown.

Now for the best part — serve it up to your friends! Be sure to take it somewhere so you don't end up eating the whole thing on your own. :)

Yum.

Random thoughts on Kennesaw

2011-09-22T11:39:00.003-05:00

Several of you have asked what I like about Kennesaw, how it's different, what's surprised me, etc. Here's my short list of things I've discovered/done/though in my first 40 or so days here:

1. I'm slowly making my way around the touristy-stuff in Atlanta. I already knew I loved big cities, but I really do like the Atlanta area. Last weekend, Kate (my roommate) had a friend in town, so I joined them in Atlanta at the World of Coke. It was fun to learn the history of Coke, see all the artworks and marketing campaigns, taste Coke products from around the world, etc. For dinner, we hit up Gladys Knight's Chicken & Waffles restaurant. Delicious.

Artwork from the World of Coke

2. Parking decks are one of the best inventions/necessities for a college campus. Kennesaw has four of them. Honestly, I have no idea why State and MTSU don't have them (besides the whole money thing, and no one wants to donate a million dollars to get their name on a parking garage). If I'm ever wealthy, I'm donating money to State for a parking garage. Sorry they're not pretty, but they're so useful!

3. Having said that about parking decks, I have absolutely no reason to complain about parking at any other school ever again. Parking at Kennesaw is INSANE. I've been very fortunate to be able to park in visitor parking (and while it's a hike, I'm guaranteed a spot). Students and faculty members = not so much. I've never seen such a crazy parking situation. Seriously, I am never complaining about university parking again.

4. I have officially tried Zumba class once (and going again this evening), and like I anticipated, I am no pro. I was honestly a little self-concious about going, but it was a good workout, and a lot of fun — a great chance to laugh and burn calories with lots of girls! My lack of dance skills is just sad, though ... if I have daughters, they are ALL doing dance classes for a VERY long time so they don't inherit their mother's abysmal dance moves. Clearly, three or four years of ballet wasn't enough for me.

5. Kennesaw is a big-time commuter school. Big time — 85% of students commute (this means they don't live on campus). While some "commute" from the apartment complex a mile away, others commute from over an hour away. Crazy. This makes community and getting our group together a challenge.

6. Campus is dead here on Fridays. Most students don't have Friday classes, but if they do have one, it's usually because they registered late or got stuck with a late orientation. I'm kind of jealous that most of the freshmen I know don't have Friday classes. I always had a Friday class — except for first semester of senior year.

7. Kennesaw offers Saturday classes. And yes, some of the students I know have to take Saturday classes because it's all that was open. Sad day.

8. There is a Waffle House that's practically on campus. If that isn't genius, I don't know what is. There's also a Wendy's across the street, and a Subway, Jimmy John's, and Mellow Mushroom within comfortable walking distance. There's a ton of places within a mile or so of campus — which makes getting off campus for a one-on-one very easy (who doesn't love escaping the cafeteria for lunch?).

Our Waffle House looks a lot like this one. Thanks, Google.

9. Kennesaw's "cafeteria" is like a food court. You swipe your card (they only take KSU IDs), and that gets you whatever food you want while you're inside. There's no take-out, and once you leave, you have to swipe to get back inside. I've been impressed with their gluten and dairy-free ice cream, as well as several other gluten-free products. You can even request gluten-free pizza at the Italian place. It's good to see a university working on special food needs and allergies — way to go, Kennesaw.

10. Student groups are allowed to chalk around campus. Chalking was considered "vandalism" at Mississippi State (seriously), and it wasn't allowed at MTSU. I still slow down to read almost everything chalked around the sidewalks at Kennesaw — I'm not used to seeing it.

11. Georgia has lots of divided highways — they're everywhere. This makes the "Georgia u-turn" (as my roommate calls it) an everyday occurrence.

12. Traffic here is .... interesting. Last year, I lived less than a mile from campus, so it took me maybe five minutes from my doorstep to parking on campus. In Kennesaw, I'm 5.2 miles from campus. On a good day, it takes me 15 minutes to get to campus and park. On a bad day, it takes 45 minutes — seriously. I learned this the hard way my first week ... thankfully, my campus minister was very gracious about me being late!

13. I'm slowly learning more about the the Braves. I went to my first Braves game last month, and really liked it. Hopefully they can pull it together in these last few games...

View from my first Braves game — that's Chipper on the board.

14. Kate and I live right by a Walmart. I've loved being able to walk to get my groceries. (Really, I do.) We'll see how long I can keep that up, especially once it gets cold. It's also weird to walk in to Walmart (or another grocery store) and see a whole wine aisle. After living in Tennessee my whole life and doing college in Mississippi, I'm not used to that (grocery stores can't stock wine in TN and MS).

15. We also live right by a Starbucks. Thankfully, I don't have a severe caffeine addiction (otherwise known as RUF intern syndrome, since half of job involves drinking coffee and the other half involves staying out late with students...kidding...but it is part of the job!). If I did have a caffeine addiction, living within 100 yards of Starbucks could be a major problem. None of the baristas know my name (yet), so that's a good sign, right?

16. There is a lot to do around here, and they have almost everything within 20 minutes of driving...however, I have found that there's no Pei Wei or Backyard Burger close. (I just started thinking about restaurants and fast food places that I hadn't seen yet, then Googled them. I found everything except those two.)

17. Recycling here is so easy, and I love that. Our apartment complex does recycling (and we live very close to the bins, so yay for convenience), and campus has bins in every major area. I grew up assuming that it was easy and convenient to recycle everywhere — then I moved to Mississippi State (and then Murfreesboro) and discovered otherwise.

It's easy being green!

18. Everyone here pretty much cheers for Georgia (Bulldogs) or Georgia Tech (Yellow Jackets). (Kennesaw doesn't have a football team, but they're getting one in 2014.) The rivalry is similar to Ole Miss/Mississippi State. Several weeks ago, I asked the students which team I needed to cheer for, and I listened to their arguments. Normally I cheer for the SEC, but I'm a little uncomfortable cheering for both sets of SEC Bulldogs...so come November 26 (when they play Georgia), I'm cheering for Tech!

19. I really, really like it here. And you should come visit!

"How do we love them?"

2011-09-13T15:30:00.001-05:00

This is a question I've found myself discussing with several students over the past two weeks. Last week, the question came up twice in two separate one on ones with girls, both of whom were asking the following:
"How do I love the gay people that I work with?"
"How can we be friends when we don't believe the same things?"
"I know I'm supposed to love them, but I have such a hard time knowing how to show them love without thinking that I'm disowning what the Bible says about this."
"How do I convince them that we can be friends, but I can't agree with their lifestyle?"
"How do we love them?"

Hard stuff, right? I definitely don't have all the answers, but the Lord has graciously allowed me to enter into good dialogue with these girls who are thinking about tough issues.

Today, I entered into that conversation again today, but from a slightly different angle. For those of you who haven't been on a public university campus in a while, it's very common for universities (especially the larger ones) to have "crazy preachers" or "screaming preachers" come to campus for a day (or a week). They hold large signs, usually yell in a loud voice, and stir up lots of controversy on campus.

Regardless of your personal views on evangelism and what is or isn't effective, most of the time, these preachers aren't preaching the true gospel. They'll point at girls around campus and yell out, "Whore! You wear shorts!" (Seriously, I'm not making this up! I got called out by one during my sophomore year at Mississippi State — yes, I was wearing shorts and an RUF t-shirt.) Needless to say, that's not particularly effective, and usually angers the crowd. Most universities have the preachers guarded by a policeman or two, and they have to stand behind a line of police tape so that students can't touch or hit them.

(For those of you protesting and wondering how this is legal, just remember — free speech!)

Anyway, today the screaming preachers are here at Kennesaw. I took a few photos to show the crowd and some of the signs. Several students made opposing signs and stood silently in the crowd, or walked around. Others waved their Bibles and entered into dialogue with these men, who argue that they haven't sinned. The photos don't show this well, but there were about 100 students crowded around the preachers this afternoon:

These are the signs from the preachers.

The yellow and green signs are from Kennesaw students.

Today, I found myself dialoguing with Christian students:

"They make us look bad. This isn't the true gospel."

"Why do they come and yell and scream? Don't they know it isn't effective?"

"They're wrong, but how do we love them and show them Jesus anyway? And how do we show this crowd that we love them?"

Whew. Tough stuff, but good conversations. As much as I dislike the screaming preachers, I have to be thankful for the opportunities they create — not just for students to ask questions, but for me to consider how I love others. Do I really believe Jesus is big enough and great enough for everyone? Do I really believe that because He's shown such love and compassion to me, I'm to show that to others? What does that look like?

Welcome to Georgia!

2011-08-26T14:11:00.000-05:00

So … I now live and work in Kennesaw, Georgia!

Most of you already knew this via my mailed newsletter, but I figured it was time to blog about it! (If you didn’t get a newsletter, please send me your address and I’ll add you to my mailing list.)

Effective two weeks ago, I became the RUF intern at Kennesaw State University (close to Atlanta). I transferred from Middle Tennessee State University and will finish the second year of my internship here at Kennesaw. I was approached about the need for a female intern at KSU and offered a transfer. After praying about it, I really felt like the Lord was calling me to KSU.

My last year at MTSU was challenging, but I learned so much about the Lord and His faithfulness. I’m thankful for how He has worked in my heart over the past year, and I’m incredibly grateful for how He used my family and friends to support me.

MTSU’s RUF is healthy and is continuing this year — that wasn’t why I transferred. I’m thankful for Paul and his family, the MTSU students, and the church back in Murfreesboro. I’m thankful for the time I spent with them — they have taught me much!

As of today, I’ve been in Kennesaw for two whole weeks! I’m so excited to be here. It has been a whirlwind of change and new things: new place, new city, new university, new students, new church, new CM (campus minister) and his family, new roommate, new apartment, new traffic; EVERYTHING is new! At times, I’ve found myself a bit overwhelmed by simply not knowing anything, but I’m learning, and the Lord is teaching me to rely on Him instead of the familiar and the comfortable.

I’m incredibly thankful for Chris and Jen (the KSU campus minister and his wife). They have taken me in and have been so kind and welcoming. Their lives have been pretty crazy this month, as they just had their first baby on August 3, and unexpectedly got an intern that same week! Sweet Phoebe is doing great, but do pray for the Bowens as they adjust to life with a little one.

In the past two weeks, Chris and I have been on campus getting to know students and getting the word out about RUF. Chris has led me around campus and has been so very patient with me as I try to take in everything. We spent Wednesday and Thursday of last week passing out freezer pops and handing out candy and RUF cups, as well as flyers about RUF. We met a lot of students, and I was really encouraged by how many of them stopped by again for our cookout on Monday. I’ve spent this week meeting with girls on campus, and am excited to be meeting girls who are active in RUF as well as girls who are looking to join the RUF community. Please be praying for diligence and perseverance as I work on campus, especially with the semester just now beginning. Pray that I’ll be bold with the gospel, and that I’ll be open and honest with students.

Tonight, we’ve got a group headed to watch the Kennesaw Lady Owls soccer team take on College of Charleston! (Kennesaw doesn’t have a football team — yet. Supposedly they’re getting one in 2014.) Our first large group will be this coming Tuesday, so please pray that the Lord will bring students, and that He will use Chris to preach His Word diligently. Our small groups will be starting up shortly, so pray that the Lord will raise up students to come, as well as bless those who will be teaching.

If you’re interested in looking up Kennesaw, you can check out our RUF site here. Again, thanks for all your prayers and support — stay tuned for updates (with more photos, once I get my Internet at the apartment working!).

Attended my first Braves game with 23 students last Friday!

Summer conference

2011-07-15T17:02:00.007-05:00

One of the great perks of my job is RUF summer conference. Two weeks at the beach in May with over 1,500 college students, 40+ seminar opportunities, great main speakers every evening, fellowship with my fellow intern class (as well as the older interns and the incoming interns) — and did I mention two weeks at the beach? ;)

Some of the female interns out to dinner — representing 11 different RUFs in 7 states!

I've spent many weeks at good ol' Laguna Beach Christian Retreat Center. I started attending RYM (the youth version of RUF summer conference) back in seventh grade, and I only missed it once through my senior year of high school! I went two years in college with Mississippi State as well. This year, I loved being a part of the "behind the scenes" crew running summer conference. What did this mean? It meant sometimes instead of attending a seminar, I was locking (or unlocking doors) all over campus, figuring out how to get the air conditioner fixed in a room (don't worry — they didn't have me fixing the air conditioning!), or patrolling the campus after lights out (armed with a huge flashlight, cellphone, walk-talkie, and always with an intern partner!).

It was a pleasure to serve alongside many interns, the RUF Atlanta staff, and many campus ministers. I never realized how much time went into planning the conference and keeping it running. I'm so thankful for the number of people who have faithfully run and planned these conferences for so many years!

I was so encouraged by the fellowship, seminars, and large groups this summer. I got to attend most large group nights (taught by Rev. Joe Novenson and Rev. Keith Berger the first week, and Rev. Richie Sessions the second week), and heard some great talks on sanctification. Throughout the two weeks, I attended seminars on community/fellowship, prayer, justification/justifying one's existence, anger, and a girls issues seminar. I'm so thankful for the Lord's wisdom and the preaching of the Word throughout those two weeks!

Week one with Courtney and Julian (both MTSU students)

Week two with Lindsey (headed to Liberty as an intern!), Jerrica, & Kaycee (all MTSU grads)

Seriously, if you (or your children) haven't been to summer conference, you have to go next year! Check out this year's website here, or the site for RYM (junior high and high school) here.

A long overdue update

2011-06-21T13:19:00.000-05:00

Just thought about my blog last week, and knew I was due for an update, but wow, it's been February since I last posted something? Oops.

The spring semester at MTSU was really busy — much busier than I anticipated. We were so blessed to have a solid group of freshmen (mainly boys!), and it was such a joy to watch them grow to know and love one another. By the end of the semester, they were hanging out all the time — grabbing wings or BBQ, eating lunch together in the cafeteria, going to Nashville for Predators games, and coming to Bible study. I know all of this is the Lord, and I'm so thankful for how He has brought them together. It was wonderful to be in freshman Bible study with many of them this semester and to hear them asking questions. We went through Tim Keller's "The Reason for God," and they really seemed to enjoy it and get a lot out of it.

Paul preached through Daniel this semester at large group, and we moved our large group time up an hour and a half (from 8:30 to 7 p.m.) — big difference! It was great to have more time to hang out afterwards, and we look forward to doing it again this semester.

We took a great crew to winter conference in February at Fall Creek Falls. Over 500 students from about 15 schools came, and it was a great time of teaching and community. We enjoyed hiking, great seminars and music, and lots of time with each other!

Our group at Fall Creek Falls

Our spring break missions trip was to New York City. We took 12 students (along with the staff of 3), and joined with Wake Forest's RUF. The trip was an incredible blessing. We spent our mornings meeting with leaders from around the city, and got to attend Redeemer Presbyterian (aka Tim Keller's church) as well as City Campus (New York's RUF), where Michael Keller is the campus minister. I loved seeing how RUF works in New York, and loved seeing its diversity. During the afternoons, we worked with a church in an after school tutoring program. We loved being with the kids, and hated to leave at the end of the week! Additionally, we had free time at night, and that meant lots of exploring one of my favorite cities — Rockefeller Plaza, Times Square, Broadway, and food ... lots of food!

Ashley, Aubra, & Matt at Sylvia's for lunch in Harlem before tutoring

Got to revisit Rockefeller Plaza — first time I've been back since 2008!

Loved taking students to Rockefeller Center during a free night!

Right after New York, I drove home for the wedding of one of my dearest friends — I've known Rebekah Davis since we were little through Riveroaks. She moved away in sixth grade, and although we saw each other some in high school, we really got to know each other when we attended Mississippi State together. She married John (met through RUF at State!) at Riveroaks, and I was glad to be part of their wedding! I got to see a lot of friends who I haven't seen in a while, including my sweet roommates:

Aubra, Amy, Rebekah G, and Annalissa at the reception. Love y'all!

John & Rebekah left to ringing cowbells. Hail State!

Some of y'all know I'm a country music fan (as one of the freshman guys commented, "Your car radio is ALWAYS on a country station!"). Stephen and I got to go hear Brad Paisley (and Darius Rucker) in Nashville in February, and it was SO fun! I highly recommend going to see him live. :)

Waiting for Brad Paisley to start!

In March, I had the privilege of speaking at the Life Choices banquet. I am so thankful for any opportunity to share my testimony, and am SO thankful for the ministry of Life Choices. God was gracious enough to raise $190,000 that night!

Hannah and Gloria were so sweet to come!

That's pretty much the spring semester — got lots to report on for the summer (I know, summer technically just started, but "summer" to me means anything after school ends), so that will be another blog post. Again, thank you for your prayers and support of RUF at MTSU!

One year ago

2011-02-21T01:44:00.010-06:00

The 2008-2009 Reflector editorial board. Adam is on the left

(in maroon and white) sitting on the angel's arm.

It's getting late, and yet I can't sleep. Exactly one year ago today, I was doing almost the exact same thing — unable to sleep and up late, thinking about one person: my friend Adam Kazery.

Exactly one year ago today, I found out that I — no, the world — had lost Adam. I lost much more than a coworker that day — I lost a dear friend who I knew I could count on for anything.

Though it's been a year since he's been gone, not a day goes by that I don't think about him. Last year as I told everyone at work that he was gone, I vividly remembering looking into the teary eyes of my dear friends, thinking, "This is going to change our lives forever." I've lost people in my life before, but Adam was so unexpected. There are still days when I pick up my phone to text him or think about posting a link to his Facebook wall — it's like my brain still hasn't completely realized that he's not here anymore. I'm not kidding when I say that I still think about him every single day — whether it's an Apple product announcement, a photo of a cat doing something stupid, the new Radiohead album, someone's Facebook status written in binary code, a black Nissan truck — not a single day has gone by where I haven't thought about him. I still expect to see him grinning every time I pass a black Nissan truck. I still expect to get random, hilarious text messages from him. I still expect him to know my order at Zaxby's. (My new friends here haven't caught on that I get the exact same thing every time!) Just last week, I was showered with wonderful Valentine's Day gifts, yet all I could think about was wanting one of Adam's silly yellow Post-It note "valentines," which he stuck to the computer monitors at work with a funny message, signed, "Love, Adam."

To say I miss him would be an understatement:
- For a while when I moved to Murfreesboro, I tried to avoid driving down a certain road to avoid the Nissan dealership — which always has a row of shiny black trucks parked right out front for everyone to see. I couldn't stand looking at those black trucks at the stoplight — it reminded me of all the times Adam took me home after a long night at the office. I remember him being appalled that I would walk 15 minutes to apartment late at night; so especially when it was cold, I'd wait until he finished at the office and gladly climb into that truck. We'd always have good conversations during that five minute drive home, whether it was about music, office politics, or what we could do better at work. Adam didn't give rides to just me — he willingly did it for anyone who didn't drive to campus. He was quick to give, and quick to look for ways to help.
- On his last production night before his death, he volunteered to go get Abner's for everyone. We knew it was going to be a late night, and by the time we realized we were all hungry, everything in the student union was closed (or we were sick of it). Adam quickly announced he would drive to Abner's, and we could pay him back later. (The Monday that he appeared "missing," I actually carried around $6 all day in my pocket for him.) Later that night, Adam danced around the newsroom and kept us laughing with his new "fashionable" plastic ring (he got it off a cupcake — read the full story here on April's blog). That night was one of the longest ones of the semester, yet thanks to Adam and Bob's antics all night, it wasn't miserable.
- I heard about the new Radiohead (one of Adam's favorites) album last week, and I got teary — I wouldn't get to see Adam all excited about it. I still haven't even listened to the album yet.
- The littlest things make me miss him. I'd be here for hours if I kept going ...

Last year, Kyle and I were debating over who should get the editor of the year award. I told him it belonged to Adam because of all his hard work, dedication, and responsibility. Adam was never late, never missed a meeting, and always finished his work — then stuck around to help everyone else. It was never in his job description to read over all the pages, yet he did it willingly — and he caught so many mistakes! There is no telling how many times Adam saved us from some really embarrassing typos and misprints. A few weeks after Adam's death, Kyle announced that he and our adviser had decided to rename the award to the Adam C. Kazery Editor of the Year award. I was so honored to receive the award last year, and it was a blessing to have Adam's family present at our banquet. April (who's editor this year) reminded me that five of the editors this year really didn't know Adam — and what a shame. How do you even begin to explain someone like Adam?

So what has a year without Adam taught me? I've learned (and not just known in my head) that life is hard and painful, and we don't always get answers. After a year, I have finally come to terms with the fact that God may not reveal to me why Adam was taken away — and after a year, I'm finally beginning to accept that. God doesn't have to tell me why it happened, and realizing that has slowly begun to give me peace. I've been reminded this year (and not just through Adam) that trusting that all that God does is right and good brings immeasurable peace and joy.

This year has also taught me how blessed I am with family and friends. One of my resolutions this year was to tell the people in my life how much they mean to me. I felt like Adam knew how much me meant to me, but I never really said it enough. I regret that, and I don't want to have that same regret with others.

So Adam, know that I miss you terribly, and I'll still be thinking of you daily. I miss you riding the Bully bike through the office to make us laugh. I miss you making sure we had good music on our computers to keep us smiling throughout the long days and nights. I miss your random text messages filled with those crazy emoticons. I miss talking about Apple products with you. I miss seeing your face and your silly grin when you were up to something mischievous. I miss your random photos. I miss your yellow Post-It note messages. I miss your crazy computer antics — like turning your entire page into Russian just to make me laugh after a long afternoon. I miss you spontaneously yelling out hilarious photo cutlines and headlines. I miss your laughter as you leaned too far back in that treacherous chair of yours. I miss you friend — and I'm not going to forget you.

Note: I blogged about Adam back in June — that post can be found here. April blogged about him as well back in May (click here for that read), and she beat me to blogging about him today right here. You can view Adam's website, as well as some of his photography, at www.adamkazery.com.

Is this normal?

2011-02-03T14:24:00.000-06:00

"Is this normal?"

That's the question I've asked myself a lot quite recently — and surprisingly, it's been about the weather here in Murfreesboro. I guess I've been spoiled living in Mississippi for the past four years. I've been unpleasantly shocked at just how cold it's been, as well as how many times it has snowed or iced over here! In Mississippi, if I woke up to a light dusting of snow (because that's pretty much all Starkville ever gets), it was great — school was canceled, even if work wasn't. Here — no sir. Life goes on, which means school goes on, which means I have to get out of my toasty apartment and go walk on campus.

Most of you are probably laughing at me because Tennessee's cold weather is nothing compared to anywhere up north...and yes, I know that...but still, it's been an adjustment this year!

Three of the nice things about the cold weather here: snowball fights, snowmen, and sledding. Here's some photographic evidence of what the RUF crew has been up to this semester:

Charging up the hill for a snowball fight!

Rob & I with our snowman — Rob's from Florida, so it was his first snowman!

Sledding by Fraternity Row — by the way, that's my new roommate — huge answer to prayer!

More updates (including an e-mail update) to come soon — just wanted to post a few pictures!

November/December 2010: The illustrated edition

2011-01-17T19:53:00.000-06:00

I apologize for the delay/lack of blog posts. As my co-intern reminded me last week, "You haven't blogged since November!" Whoops — and thanks for reminding me, Rob. :)

One of the many new things for me this year was an RUF parents' brunch. Lots of RUFs do a parents' brunch to introduce parents to what RUF believes and why it exists on campus. It can also be a good time to help fundraise. We had a good turnout for our brunch this year, and had our area coordinator John Stone speak, as well as MTSU's campus minister Paul Boyd. One of our seniors shared about how RUF has impacted her life, and the intern crew also got up to do a Q & A with the parents.

John Stone, our area coordinator, speaking to parents.

I hosted a freshman/new student Christmas party at my one-bedroom apartment — and we had 28 people show up! We enjoyed snacks, did a White Elephant swap, and watched "Elf." It was really great to have so many people show up, and we were encouraged to have people inviting their friends.

Part of our freshman crew before the White Elephant swap.

White Elephant gifts!

A family from Trinity Pres graciously hosted RUF's annual Christmas party. We had a tacky Christmas sweater competition and a bake-off!

Intern Rob with three of our freshman guys

Interns at the Christmas party in our tacky sweaters — sorry for the blurry picture!

Thank you again for your prayers and support throughout this semester. We are excited about what the Lord has in store for us this semester — please continue to pray for us!

October: The illustrated edition!

2010-11-17T00:04:00.000-06:00

I realize it's definitely no longer October (it is actually COLD here!), but I thought I'd give a photographic representation of some of what MTSU RUF did last month!

Over our fall break, we went to St. Louis for a missions trip. Here's the illustrated edition of that story. :)

On Friday, we loaded up a 12-passenger van, and there were 12 of us. We got close!

We met with New City Fellowship (PCA) and played with kids (mainly children of African refugees) in a downtown neighborhood all day Saturday!

On Saturday night, we went out for dinner and walked around. These are all the girls on the trip!

Sunday after church, we visited the arch and the St. Louis Zoo! Taylor & I were freaked out by this Black Mamba.

On Monday, we visited with Covenant Theological Seminary, and attended two classes. Here, Rob and I were getting ready to listen to Jerram Barrs! (And yes, he was awesome.)

We also brought back RWF this year — that stands for RUF Wrestling Federation! We had a guys bracket and girls bracket. Participants had to enter with a wrestler name (some examples: "The Lumberjack," "Rumble Bee," "Fashionably Undead," "Dora the Explorer," and "The Italian") and a costume to go with the name. Participants were assigned to a bracket and "wrestled" each other — first, they did Indian leg wrestling, then they proceeded to the arm wrestling table. In the event of a tie (if one student won the Indian leg wrestling, but the other won the arm wrestling), the final event was thumb wrestling. Sounds crazy, but the event was a hit!

Our campus minister Paul was the referee!

Jerrica and Marie preparing to arm wrestle.

Julian and Aaron thumb wrestling for the guys championship!

Rob with our winners! (We had a girls champ, guys champ, and costume/dance off champ.) One of our students made these great wrestling championship belts!

And there you have it — a good part of our October in photos!

October in a nutshell

2010-11-04T14:12:00.001-05:00

Note: I don't normally post my monthly e-mail update to my blog, but I haven't been able to access the RUF database in a while, so I decided to copy this to my blog as well. If you want a once a month e-mail update, just let me know! Sorry for no photos — I promise I'll get some posted soon!

It is hard to believe that it’s already November — I can’t believe I’ve been here for three months. It has been a busy fall semester, and we’ve still got a lot of things ahead of us.

Let me give a quick catch up on some of our events: We’ve continued with weekly large group, and average about 75 students each Tuesday night. It has been so encouraging to see the great group of freshman boys that are coming, as well as the group of juniors and seniors who come faithfully every week. We have freshman/new student Bible study on Psalms every week, and we’ve got about 10 coming to that. It’s a great time of discussion and fellowship, and the group loves to go eat wings and BBQ after Bible study! Last week, we went to Paul and Rachel’s house for dinner, and it was great to have everyone hang out and enjoy a home cooked meal.

Over our fall break, we loaded up a 12-passenger van and headed to St. Louis for a missions trip. We really got to know one another (close quarters in a large van tend to do that!), and had a great mix of students. On Saturday, we visited New City Fellowship (PCA) and learned how they’re ministering to their community, which includes African refugees, Middle Eastern families, women trying to get out of prostitution, and others. We spent our Saturday playing soccer, tag, hide and seek, and other playground activities with about 40 kids, many who are African refugees. It was great to see our students bond with the kids, and none of us wanted to leave! We attended church there, and spent the rest of Sunday seeing the sites in St. Louis, including the zoo and the arch. On Monday, we visited Covenant Theological Seminary, where we got a tour of the campus, learned about the various degrees offered there, and got to sit in on two classes of our choice. (I actually got to hear Jerram Barrs teach!) Several of the students on the trip are thinking about seminary, so it was a blessing to see them excited about possibly attending Covenant.

We also had our eighth annual barn dance on October 22, and it turned out great! We had about 100 people attend, and we partnered with Trinity (the local PCA church). We had several students who don’t attend large group or Bible studies show up, so that was also a huge encouragement.

I attended RUF intern training last week in Atlanta, and was pleasantly surprised at how much it meant to be surrounded by a group that knows exactly what you’re trying to do and how you sometimes feel like you’re failing miserably! It was a great time of teaching, encouragement, and refreshment. The RUF staff does a wonderful job of ministering to its campus staff, and it was great to rejoice over how the Lord is working on campuses across the US.

Other interns echoed how I’ve often felt this semester — frustrated. It has been a learning experience (to say the least) to pursue girls (particularly freshman girls) who often times don’t show up when they promise to come, ignore your calls, aren’t interested in campus ministry, or fill their time with other things. I often find myself wondering if I’m not suitable for this job. The truth is that I’m not adequate and nothing I do will bring them to Bible study, large group, or church — that’s the Lord’s job. My job is to love on them and pursue them, even if they don’t come. I’ve been reminded so often this semester that this must be a small taste of how our Heavenly Father pursues us — most of the time, we’re running away as fast as we can, yet He is faithful and doesn’t give up on us. That is what I have been reminded most while doing this job: I have a Heavenly Father who is in charge, loves me despite my failures, and never stops pursing me!

As we close up this semester, we are looking forward to several events, including the RUF Wrestling Tournament (more on that in the next e-mail or blog post!), parents brunch (a time for parents to learn about RUF and consider supporting MTSU), the Thanksgiving service (a large group where students share what they’re thankful for), more Bible studies and large groups, and the Christmas party! Please pray that the Lord will bless these events and continue to bring more students to know and love Him.

I am so thankful for your prayers and support — I could not do this job without each of you. I will be home in Memphis for Thanksgiving, and I look forward to catching up with many of you then!

I'm really not good at titles

2010-10-13T12:34:00.002-05:00

You know, blog titles are just like newspaper headlines — I was never very good at them, but they're super important. Ever thought about that? If you're flipping through a magazine or newspaper (or even scrolling through a site online) and the headline doesn't sound interesting, you probably won't read the story. (Actual statistic on that: Eight out of ten people will read the headlines, but only two out of ten read the story — credit goes to copyblogger.) Having said that, please don't judge me for my terrible blog titles...also, please forgive me for not blogging once a week. Apparently, I need a blog accountability partner — any takers? Anyway...

I'm writing this on a Wednesday morning, and I love Wednesday mornings. It's kind of my "recovery day" since we have RUF large group on Tuesday nights. We had a pretty good turnout for large group (especially for it being midterms week), but not a single freshman girl came last night. Any other week, this would have really bothered me — and hey, let's be honest: it still does bother me, but not like it would have in weeks past — but over the past two weeks, the Lord really reminded me that it's not about numbers. In all actuality, it's not even about getting people to come to RUF. It's about building relationships with these girls, loving on them, listening to them, praying for and with them, and helping them get involved in a church. I'd love to see them involved in RUF, but more importantly, I want to see them growing spiritually and loving Jesus with all their heart.

Having said that, I would love for y'all to pray that more freshman girls would join RUF and would attend freshman Bible study. We have a solid group of freshman guys, and I am very thankful for each one of them. I would just love to have more girls to be with and hang out with — if that's what the Lord wants here at MTSU. At the same time, please pray that I wouldn't find my identity in how many girls come to RUF, because again, it's not about numbers.

It has been such a sweet blessing to be here in Murfreesboro. I am so thankful for the RUF staff, the church, and all the students. They are such an encouragement to me. I'm slowly but surely beginning to get the hang of things here, although I still feel like a "glorified freshman" (that's how I describe myself to a lot of students: I've basically started all over at a new school, not knowing anyone, but I do have a college degree).

It is also great to be 35 minutes away from my sister, who's finishing up her senior year at Belmont University in Nashville. I've been able to go visit for a day or so on several weekends, and it's been fun to hang out at her apartment and go to her soccer games. My sweet parents have been so kind to bring me things from Memphis (like all my winter clothes when it got unexpectedly chilly last week!), and Mom is great about helping me stock my apartment. She found this awesome chair for $5 at an estate sale (and Dad took off all the paint splatters on it) — they rock!

This means I now have three kitchen chairs — hooray!

This week, MTSU RUF has freshman Bible study/dinner on Thursday. Paul teaches on one of the Psalms, and it's a great time of discussion and fellowship. After Bible study, we head to Slick Pig, which is exactly what it sounds like: an awesome BBQ and wings joint. While I'm still a Memphis BBQ girl, their wings are INCREDIBLE. It's pretty hilarious to see the RUF crew walk in every week (usually me plus 5 to 10 guys — occasionally, we have a girl or two!) — no telling how many wings we demolish each week.

Me with the Slick Pig mascot

Please be praying for the staff (Paul, Rob, Heather, and myself) as we head to St. Louis on Friday with seven students for a missions trip. We'll be hanging out with refugees, playing with kids, possibly helping with some ESL ministries, visiting Covenant Theological Seminary, and seeing a few of the sites in St. Louis. I'm really excited about it, and I'm so thankful for each person going. Pray that the Lord will give us traveling mercies (it's about 6-7 hours driving!), servants' hearts, kindness towards each other, and unity. I'll be sure to post some pictures soon!

Thank you again for your prayers and support. It means so much to hear from y'all, and I could not do this without each one of you. I am very thankful for each one of you!

MTSU RUF in pictures

2010-09-27T13:53:00.002-05:00

To make up for the lack of updates, here's our semester so far...in pictures! More to come soon. :)

Leadership retreat: Nineteen of us (our campus minister, the three interns, and fifteen junior and senior students) enjoyed two days and two nights in Smithville, Tennessee, at a lake house. We got to plan our semester, spent a lot of time in prayer and the Word, and played. :) It was great to get to know the leadership team – they were so friendly and welcoming.

One of the intern duties includes cooking at events (which I’m actually really excited to do!). Courtney was very sweet to help me with these cookies (she was probably making sure that I wasn’t going to eat all of them).

Paul got RUF cups for our ice cream party – the senior guys had fun playing with them.

A couple of our students brought their Eno hammocks. See the blue one? – that’s the one I want to get for my new porch. ;)

We split into teams and played the video camera game. My group had to film a sitcom on the porch – we called it “Sitcommunism” (a made-up sitcom about a family in the 1950s). When our camera died, I filmed the rest on the trusty iPhone 4! It was a lot of fun, but I don’t think any of us will be winning an Academy Award any time soon...

Ice cream party: Rob and I passed out flyers and suckers on campus advertising free ice cream. RUF students told their friends. Rob even told the Walmart ladies when we went to buy ice cream. Hey, people came! :) It was a great time to meet new students, enjoy fellowship, and share information about RUF.

Two of our juniors, Taylor and Courtney, served 35 gallons of ice cream to over 100 students!

We got good use out of our RUF cups – three dishwasher loads later, they’re good as new!

MTSU football: Rob and I ventured into Peck Forest and passed out RUF cups and magnets to tailgaters before the first game. We attended the game with our students – and hey, MTSU almost won!

After wearing maroon and white to football games for four years, it feels strange to be wearing blue…but it won’t take long for me to get used it to it!

Trinity Presbyterian Church: This is where we have our staff meetings, attend church on Sundays and Wednesdays, and even get some occasional study time.

These are my great co-interns, Heather and Rob. They’re so great that when I insisted we take a picture at church so I could include it in my newsletter, they didn’t protest one bit!

Low country boil: We shopped, others cooked, people came. Shrimp + sausage + potatoes + corn + lemonade + cornbread + homemade desserts + cornhole + ladderball + 95 degree heat + fellowship = success!

If you feed them, they will come!

The guys playing cornhole at the shrimp boil.

What else have we done this semester? Large group meetings, small group Bible studies, prayer groups, freshman dinner, freshman and new student Bible study, lots of staff meetings, and RUF lunch! (Sorry, I guess I’ve been a little lazy with my camera.)

What’s left this semester? Film and theology nights, our fall break missions trip to St. Louis, more large groups and small groups and prayer groups, more freshman/new student Bible studies, more RUF lunches, the annual barn dance, service projects, the annual RWF event (I’ll explain that in a later post – it needs a post all to itself), more staff meetings, a Thanksgiving service, the Christmas party, and probably lots of other things! Stay tuned.

Whoops

2010-09-11T17:57:00.000-05:00

A couple of nights ago, I sat down to write a blog update and e-mail update to everyone — I've done a terrible job of keeping everyone updated! I wrote for about an hour, then saved it in Microsoft Word since I don't have Internet at my new apartment yet (yep, I got the apartment!). Over the past few days, I've been several places, hoping to upload the blog post and send out the e-mail update, but I've had some Internet issues. I finally decided to make the trek out to Panera this afternoon to send the e-mail update and the blog post.

But alas, I goofed. I wrote all the updates three nights ago on my old PowerBook (because Word didn't work on my new MacBook Pro). I spent last night getting Word to work properly on the MacBook. Forgetting that I wrote everything on my old computer, I loaded up the nice and shiny MacBook, all excited about using it at Panera with fast Internet and a FINALLY functioning Word...lo and behold, my files aren't there.

Sigh. The Lord has funny ways of keeping me humble. :) As I just told my mom over the phone, this morning I put together my bookcase (this is the second or third one I've put together) and COMPLETELY goofed it up...maybe if I'm brave, I'll post a photo so y'all can laugh!

I was going to sit here and try to recall everything I've wrote three nights ago, but I've decided against that — probably not a wise use of my time. I'll go find wireless at the church or somewhere else tomorrow, so be looking for a real post with real information within the next few days! :) Oh, and if you want added to my e-mail list, please drop me an e-mail (aubra.whitten@ruf.org) or tell me via the blog.

Hooray for Murfreesboro!

2010-08-23T23:37:00.001-05:00

Exactly one week ago, I moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Thanks to everyone who has prayed for me and supported me - I could not have reached my 85% goal without each one of you!

I have been blessed to move in with a sweet host family from the PCA church, who took me in on very short notice. I moved much earlier than I anticipated, so I didn't have time to find an apartment. I traveled all around the city today and am turning in an application tomorrow - pray that if it's the Lord's will, He'll give me the apartment.

One of my furry roommates snoozing :)

School starts here on August 30, and I am really ready to start meeting freshmen and transfer students! My co-intern Rob took me around campus today, and it got me really excited about being in a new place with lots of new faces.

The view from the lake house's porch - lovely!

Last week, MTSU's RUF had its leadership team retreat at a lake house in Smithville, Tennessee. I had a great time getting to know about 20 of the juniors and seniors who help lead RUF. They were such a blessing to me and were quick to introduce themselves and ask me questions. They made me feel so welcome! MTSU is blessed to have each one of them.

My teammates in our video filming competition: David, Taylor, and Julian

As we prepare to start this semester, please be praying for the following things:
1. Pray that God will give the leadership team and the staff direction this semester in all areas: mercy ministries, large group, small groups, Bible studies, prayer groups, parties, etc. We have a busy semester ahead, so please pray for energy and stamina.
2. Pray that the Lord will work in the lives of each of the staff members: Paul (the campus minister), Heather (a part-time intern & the church administrator), Rob (an intern), and myself. Heather will be focusing on the older girls in RUF, while Rob and I will be working primarily with freshmen and transfer students. Pray that the Lord will give us boldness to approach students about RUF!
3. Pray for the local PCA church, Trinity Presbyterian Church. The church is currently looking for a pastor and undergoing several transitions.
4. Pray for encouragement for Paul and Rachel (my campus minister and his wife) as their youngest son, Jake, faces another severe heart surgery in the near future.
5. Most importantly, pray for conversions! There are thousands of students here (it's the largest university in Tennessee), and each one of them needs the gospel!

Thank you for your support and prayers!

Green light!

2010-08-11T16:27:00.000-05:00

By the grace of God, I got a phone call Monday saying I've got the green light to move to campus. Praise the Lord! This means I've hit 85% of my budget and will raise the remaining 15% over the next few months (I'd love to have it raised by December, but we'll see.)

I am so excited about moving and also a little nervous - I leave town Friday (we're moving my sister to Nashville on Saturday), then I'm moving in either Sunday or Monday. It's a totally new place, and I really don't know anyone, but I am excited about meeting new people and beginning work. The MTSU students don't start until August 28, so this gives me a little time to settle in and get adjusted.

Please continue praying that the Lord will prepare me for this year. I am so excited and am so very thankful for everyone who has prayed for and supported me. I love y'all dearly!

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow

2010-08-07T22:44:00.002-05:00

I went to Starkville for 24 hours and enjoyed hanging out with my former roommate Annalissa at her new house. It was so encouraging to see her (and other dear friends), even if it was only a short while. This morning, six of us (the six girls staying at the house for that weekend) gathered around and Annalissa took scripture requests and read them out loud. This was mine:
"I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip—
He who watches over you will not slumber;
Indeed, He who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
The sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
The LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore."
- Psalm 121

I simply love this psalm. Susan Ashton recorded it a few years back (it's worth a listen - it helped me memorize the entire psalm very quickly!). This has been one of the psalms that I turn to over and over again. It is such a comfort and brings such peace to know that our Heavenly Father watches over us and keeps us safe.

The past 24 hours in Starkville were also bittersweet. I went there to celebrate the life of my friend Adam, who died in February. A friend of his threw a film festival in honor of him, and so about 100 or so of us crowded into Old Venice last night. We raised $435 for the hospital that helped Adam so much (he suffered from Crohn's disease), enjoyed looking at some of his photography, and laughed as we watched him on screen with some of his friends (they made a hilarious silent film about a man with no hands). It made me smile to watch him on screen being his goofy self. As the night progressed, I couldn't help but think about how much Adam would have enjoyed being there. As the night wrapped up, I went outside and talked to Adam's mom, where we found ourselves right next to a black Nissan truck — almost just like Adam's (except a little smaller). We both shared the same smile and got a little quiet — it reminded us of Adam. Not a day goes by that I don't think about him in some form or fashion. It was great to see everyone last night, and I know Adam would be happy that we had a good time watching the films, listening to the bands, and enjoying fellowship.

And for a quick rewind: I spent the last week of July in Atlanta for week two of RUF staff training. It was wonderful to see my fellow interns, meet some older interns (the cool second year kids!), and visit with campus ministers. Paul (my new campus minister) preached on Tuesday night at our worship service, and he is GREAT! I am so excited about being under his teaching this year. I loved the fellowship throughout the week, and the teaching and seminars were excellent. What an encouraging week with new, dear friends. I got to wrap it up with a quick trip the lake with some high school friends - also very fun. It was my last chance to hit the lake this summer, so I'm glad it finally happened!

And now back to last week: I got great news on Friday afternoon about my RUF internship — I am $1,003 away from reaching my "move to Murfreesboro" goal of 85%, which means I need $5,774 to be 100% fully funded. Praise the Lord! Thank you to all who have prayed for me and supported me. The Lord has been so gracious and faithful, and all of this has been from Him — not anything that I have done! Please join me in praying that the Lord will continue to provide and will be preparing me to move to Murfreesboro.

An RUF update

2010-07-21T14:27:00.001-05:00

Most of you know that I am currently raising support to be an RUF intern at MTSU. While I am definitely nervous, I am really excited about this opportunity and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for this next year.

My budget for this year (June 2010-May 2011) is $31,804. (By the way, if anyone would like a copy of my actual budget - to see where your donations go - I would be happy to mail or e-mail you one! Just ask!) I have to raise 85% of that ($27,033) before I can move to campus. By the grace of God, I only need $5,473 to move to campus. After I get that, I will only need $4,771 to be completely funded. Praise the Lord!

I am so thankful for everyone who has contributed to my account and has been praying for me. I covet your prayers and ask that you would continue praying and continue supporting me throughout this year. I'll be sending out prayer postcards soon, so if you're on my mailing list, be looking for those. (If you're not on my mailing list, please send me an e-mail at aubra.whitten@ruf.org and I'll be happy to add you!)

A couple of things that I would love for y'all to join me in praying about:
1. I still need to reach 85% support in order to move to campus. I would love to be moved there by the time school starts (which is late August). I also would love to have 100% of my support raised by the end of August so that I can focus on being at MTSU. Pray that the Lord would give me patience, diligence, and willingness.
2. RUF staff training (week two) is next week in Atlanta, Monday through Friday. Pray that God would make me willing and open to what we'll be learning. Pray for encouragement and stamina - it's a great week, but long!
3. Please pray that God will open my heart and help me to be teachable and flexible this year. Pray that I'll really seek Him and be willing to go below the surface with students.
4. Pray for Paul and Rachel (my campus minister and his wife) and their three boys. I am really excited about working with them! Pray for my co-interns Rob and Heather.
5. Most importantly, pray that the gospel will go forth and that there will be conversions at MTSU!

Thank you for your support and prayers - they mean so much! I would love to sit down and talk with any of you before I leave - please call me, shoot me an e-mail, grab me at church - whatever!

Fasting

2010-07-02T12:41:00.000-05:00

This morning, I sat down and talking to my mom about my new job with RUF. She and I both expressed concern over my support coming in, and I revealed that I really haven't been seeking the Lord as much as I should on things, nor have I been spending hours in prayer about this internship. She also mentioned fasting, and I realized I've never really done that before. I've given up a meal here and there to pray instead of eat, but never truly fasted. So, having said that, I think I'm going to try to fast once a week. (If anyone out there wants to keep me accountable, I'd love it — you don't have to fast with me!) I need to set a specific day of the week to do it...but for now, it's TBA.

Please do pray that I'll trust the Lord in all of this and really seek His face. Pray that I'll be wise and intentional with my time this summer. Pray that I'll fight discouragement and rest in what He provides. Above all, pray that He will make His way known to me, and that I'll accept it with a ready and willing spirit. Thank you for your prayers and support!

History of the iPhone

2010-06-25T13:12:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I became the proud owner of the new iPhone 4. It's beautiful (if you can call a phone that), and I'll like it even more when I can get it synced with my computer. (I bought a brand new phone, but I have a very not-so-brand-new computer that is almost incompatible with the phone! Whoops. Looks like I'll be investing in a new laptop when my current one decides to die.)

Found this great history of the iPhone infographic from the good folks at Mashable and thought I would share.

View it on Mashable's site here.

Yummy...

2010-06-24T18:30:00.003-05:00

Yummy...or not. I've got a friend that has promised to try this creation if he finds it. I'd rather not...

It's a Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt. That's a burger sandwiched between two (yes, TWO) grilled cheeses. A whopping 1500 calories. You can read all about it on Slashfood.

Adam

2010-06-12T02:19:00.010-05:00

Preface: Almost four months ago, I lost my dear friend and coworker Adam Kazery. This post is way overdue — I’ve been working on it for two months and still can’t make it “perfect.” There’s just far too much to say about Adam! I’d love for you to read The Reflector's news story about him here and the editorial that our editor Kyle wrote here. I’d also love for you to read what April (the 2010-2011 Reflector editor) wrote here. This post is long, but it still doesn’t even begin to do him justice — trust me.

There are certain people I think about every day. Adam Kazery is one of those people. It’s amazing what little things make me think of him — the Spell Number app on my iPhone, a Radiohead song, breaking news stories, photography, big black trucks, any technology updates/gadgets, yellow Post-It notes, pianos, Sundays at 5 p.m., MSU maroon “Bully Bikes,” Naked Juice, and countless other things.

Adam’s dad asked us (those that worked with Adam at The Reflector) for stories about him. I feel like I have enough stories about Adam to write a book. With the help of The Reflector staff, I’d have enough for a series. All the “little things” I mentioned above have a story hidden in them:
-The Spell Number iPhone app: Adam installed this application on my phone for me. He used to send the funniest text messages with these hilarious emoticons and icons. When I couldn’t get the application to work correctly, he took my phone and figured it out (all within a span of about 30 seconds…of course. He was a genius with anything.)
-Radiohead songs: Adam loved Radiohead, and the Radiohead bear (see the image above). He had it on his desk at work, on a vanity plate on his truck, as his Facebook profile image, as his iPhone background, everywhere. He even stamped a bunch of one dollar bills with the bear symbol and gave me seven of them saying, “I want these to end up in all 50 states. See how many places you can spend them.” (For the record, I got them into four states: Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas — now, I’d do anything to have one back.) After his death, our Chief Designer Carl created a Radiohead bear badge that ran next to the dateline on all our front pages for the rest of the semester — a small tribute to Adam. I’ll forever associate the Radiohead bear with Adam.
-Breaking news stories: Whenever something big happened, Adam knew about it. If it was in Starkville, Adam was on it immediately. One of my last story memories with him was following up on a rumor about a rape in town. Adam drove me to the jail, sat with me as we waited to view the jail log, and almost had to help me sweet-talk the officer into letting me view the log (since it was past viewing hours).
-Photography: If anything big happened, Adam was there with a notepad and a camera. We never had to call him and ask him, he just jumped right into the action. He also took amazing candid shots and won journalism awards for his photography. (You can see some of his work here.)
-Big black trucks: Adam drove a big black Nissan truck. He never wanted anyone to walk home after work, so if anyone stayed later than he did at the office, he took them home. I can’t even begin to count how many nights Adam kept me from walking to my apartment!
-Technology updates: I’ll never forget telling Adam, “Hey, Verizon called me. They offered us a free advance trial of two Android phones. Would you be up for playing with them for a week and writing a story?” He was so excited —he looked like a little kid on Christmas morning! He had a great time playing with the phones and learning everything about them (of course, he had already researched them and knew all about them before he picked them up for the trial). His story was great and still remains as one of the top-read Reflector stories of all time. (You can read it by clicking here.) That’s just one of a million stories I could tell about him and technology…seriously. He was an Apple guru and loved anything related to Macs. I’d love to ask him what he thinks about the new iPhone.
-Yellow Post-It notes: Adam was great about writing little encouraging or funny notes to people in the Reflector office. He’d write a brief message on our yellow Post-It notes and stick one on your computer screen when you weren’t looking. They were simple and yet encouraging. I’ve saved mine and will treasure them. His last one to me: “Aubra, Keep being awesome. Adam.”
-Pianos: Adam played piano, even though he didn’t tell a lot of people about it. During he last semester, he was taking a piano class. He played by ear and told me he wanted to take the class to learn how to read music. I told him he was truly lucky and gifted to be able to play by ear. He shrugged and said, “Yeah, but I want to be better, and reading music will make me better.” Typical Adam — always looking for a way to improve!
-Sundays at 5 p.m.: The Reflector editorial board had meetings every Sunday at 5 p.m. Often times, many of us were late. Adam was always prompt and we could always count on him being there. We weren’t always happy about coming back to work after the weekend, but Adam was there with a smile ready to get back to work. He was quiet during meetings, but never ceased to keep us entertained. He loved sending funny texts to us to make one of us laugh and also loved taking candid photos of us and posting them to his Twitter account.
-MSU maroon “Bully Bikes:” Adam loved his vintage bike, but he always found something goofy to do with MSU’s Bully Bikes — like the night that he found one on campus and rode around on it in the Reflector office to make everyone laugh.
-Naked Juice: Occasionally, Adam would show up to work after class with a treat from the State Fountain Bakery and a bottle of Naked Juice. I loved Naked Juice and hated it when the bakery stopped selling them on campus. Adam made my day once by telling me, “Hey, you do you I’m buying these from that new store inside the Union, right? Let me go get you one.”

Though I still miss him, this week was the first week that I didn’t shed tears, bite my lip or freeze when I heard his name. Two weeks ago at Target, I smiled through my tears as I heard a young mom gently say, “Adam, please stop playing in the clothes rack and come here,” to her skinny, grinning, adorable 6-year-old son. One week ago, I swallowed and let a tear fall on the phone when the Census Bureau dispatcher said, “Thank you for returning our call, Ms. Whitten. My name is Adam and I’ll be asking you some questions today.” This week during my new intern training for RUF, a fellow intern turned to me and said, “Hi, I don’t think we’ve met. My name is Adam.” Without any hesitation or tears, I immediately smiled and extended my hand. “Adam, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Aubra.”

I don’t know exactly why it finally “clicked” this week, but I’m thankful. I’m not a tearful person, and I know Adam wouldn’t want tears or sorrow from anyone. He’d be glad that I smiled with genuine joy at meeting another Adam this week. (Don’t worry, Adam. No one’s ever going to replace you — I promise!)

He’s far from being forgotten by any of us. I do still occasionally start to text him when I hear a rumor about a new Apple product. He was the second number I dialed in late April when a fire broke out at my complex. (Had he been around, he and his camera would have been there in five minutes!) In March and April, I sometimes had problems at 4:50 a.m. while doing the website; my first thought was immediately to call or e-mail Adam. I don’t dwell on those dark, sleepless, draining February days anymore — I smile when I remember him and still laugh when I read our text messages and Facebook posts to each other.

Throughout this whole ordeal, I came to appreciate Adam more. I knew he was amazingly gifted and talented, but I didn’t know just how gifted and talented he was. At his visitation, I listened as friends shared about his many gifts, ranging from skateboarding to piano to graphic design. When Kyle and I were forced to quickly pick up the Reflector website duties, we learned what a genius and mastermind Adam was with our site — we ran our site through a publishing platform, but Adam had skillfully modified parts of it and created custom HTML code to help the site work and look better. He was humble and quiet — he never told any of us that he created custom codes or reedited our works to make them optimal for online purposes. He did all of that without asking because as he once told Kyle, “I just want it to look good.” Kyle and I initially struggled with the website, especially during the first night without Adam, but we got it working. (I know he’d be so proud of us for figuring out how to activate the site and how to modify the HTML code to keep everything running properly!)

Adam was an incredibly hard worker. I knew this, but I didn’t fully recognize it until I became Managing Editor. As Online Editor, Adam was the last one out on production nights — he stayed later than me most productions nights! He graciously put up with the staff’s procrastination, last minute changes and crazy HTML issues. He never complained about being the last one out of the office, nor did he complain about waking up at 4:50 a.m. twice a week to activate the website. (That’s another example of his humility: until I mentioned the early morning aspect at our end of the year banquet, his own mother didn’t know that he had been getting up at 4:50 — he never complained about it, even to her!) When someone else didn’t do his or her work, we sent Adam to do it — and he always did a great job. Adam saved us on countless occasions. He had a great eye for page design, knew AP Style, re-edited photos, fixed bugs on the pages, created house ads at the last minute and caught countless errors. When Kyle asked me in January who I thought should get the Editor of the Year award at our annual banquet, I immediately said, “Adam. He’s saved us so many times, and he never takes credit for it. It should absolutely go to Adam.”

Adam was funny and knew how to make your day. One of his responsibilities was to lay out and run the bulletin board/ads page. As Managing Editor, I had to proofread and edit all the pages for every paper. One night, I was really behind on editing pages and Adam knew I was in bad mood. He came up and slipped his page to the back of my stack of pages saying, “Just read it when you have a chance. I’ll wait.” I finally got to his page and broke into laughter. He had changed the whole page into Russian! I looked over to see him grinning at his desk. “You needed to laugh,” he explained with a grin. “And don’t worry — I didn’t save it in Russian. I’ve got an English version for you right here.” I could tell stories for hours about how he made us laugh!

Adam constantly thought of others. He knew when one of us was having a bad day, and he did whatever he could to cheer us up. He’d bring you a treat from the bakery, leave a Post-It note on your computer monitor, or simply come by your desk and say, “Do you need anything? Let me go get you something to eat.” (In fact, the day that he went missing, I had brought $6 to work because I owed him for buying of us Abner’s on a particularly crazy production night.)

After the almost 24-hour period from Adam going “missing” to finding out what happened, I remember sitting at my desk waiting for Kyle’s phone call. I’ll never forget the tone of his voice. I’ll never forget my fellow editors staring at me as I clung to my phone. I’ll never forget standing the middle of the newsroom, clutching my desk counter and delivering the worst news I’ve ever given. I'll never forget calling former editors and writers as I re-delivered that terrible message over and over again. I’ll never forget holding another editor tightly, watching tears run down her cheeks as I wondered, “We’ll never be able to replace Adam. How in the world will we ever make it without him?”

In the midst of intense sorrow and pain, God reminded me of His sovereignty and providence, whether in the form of text messages, scripture, hugs, phone calls or food dropped off at the office. Within an hour of telling my newsroom staff, I had friends text me saying, “I love you. I’m praying for you and the staff” and “I love you. I know it’s production night. Hang in there. Can I bring y’all dinner?” Though there were many scripture passages that spoke to me, especially during the first few weeks, I found one passage that I hadn’t really noticed before (and yes, I know the verses are out of order — I kind of took rearranging liberties):
“When I thought, ‘My foot slips,’ your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul … If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would have lived in the land of silence … But the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.” (Psalm 94:18-19, 17, 22)

I won’t say that I know why God allowed everything to happen this semester. I’m not God — I’m human and will never understand His plans fully this side of heaven. I do rejoice in the fact that the Lord is gracious and compassionate and has brought healing and restoration — and He promises that He will continue to do so, never forsaking those that He loves.

I’m thankful that I have so many great memories of Adam. I’m thankful for how despite a hard situation, I bonded with my dear coworkers and Reflector family. I’m thankful for a great advisor who forgot about herself, going above and beyond the call of duty to check on us and watch over us. I’m incredibly thankful for Adam’s amazing family, who has been such an encouragement and inspiration to all of us. I hope that someday they will know how the Lord has used them to bring each of us much hope and healing. Above all, I’m thankful that I have a God who knows exactly what He’s doing and uses all things, even hard situations, to glorify Him. I can’t wait until the day when I can finally see and understand His plans and reasons for this last semester. Until that day, I’m going to wait patiently.

(Oh, I think I’m going to find a Radiohead bear sticker to put on my car. I know Adam would definitely approve.)

RUF Training

2010-06-09T22:07:00.003-05:00

This week, I've been in Atlanta for my first week of training for my new job — being the RUF intern at MTSU. I'll be updating my blog with more information on my job and how you can get involved with the ministry, but just wanted to blog about a couple of things so I don't forget them.

Top four things I've learned (so far) this week:
1. Having people donate money is going to be hard and humbling experience. I have a hard time learning to accept and receive from people. I can give all day, whether it's time, work, service, whatever. I have a hard time receiving. I'm looking forward to the Lord changing my perspective and learning that because He's given, I need to learn to accept.

2. My fellow interns are a wonderful group of people. I am not a fan of shallow conversation (though I'm pretty good at it). I want to know what's really going on with you below the surface. If I can't get below the surface with someone, I really start to wonder what's going on or what's wrong. I've shared so much (and interns have shared with me) and already been challenged by my "pledge class" (as one of our teachers has nicknamed us). I look forward to what the Lord has in store for all of us.

3. I have generous friends, family, supporters and a church family. It has been a blessing to log in to the RUF staff portal and see that people have already donated to me (and I'm just getting started). I can't wait to see how the Lord continues to provide.

4. This summer and this job is going to be challenging. There's so much I could say about that, but it would take me entirely too long. I am really looking forward to this job and am always up for a challenge. I am looking forward to the Lord getting me out of my comfort zone and stretching me. I feel like I've been comfortable for far too long. This last semester was a stretching experience, and maybe the Lord was using that to prepare me for this coming semester — who knows? Either way, I'm excited to see what's in store.

Quick question

2010-06-01T17:47:00.001-05:00

Does anyone on here know how I can change my blog URL (address) without losing my blog? I really want to change it to aubrawhitten.blogspot.com, but I've searched the Google archives and can't figure out if it's possible to do that without losing all my current data. If anyone has an idea, please post! Thanks!

Searching

2010-05-24T09:33:00.004-05:00

In approximately two days, I get to go searching...for a new apartment in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Lord willing (assuming I raise at least 85% of my budget by August), I will be moving to work at MTSU (Middle Tennessee State University) for RUF (Reformed University Fellowship). I am so excited about this opportunity and can't wait to see what's in store for the next two years.

Having said that, I have absolutely no idea where I'll live, and that's very strange and maybe a little frightening? I'm currently scouring Craigslist (much to my mother's chagrin). I'll be calling a realtor's office shortly to see if they can meet with me Thursday and maybe show me a few places. I'm one of those people who isn't picky about a house or apartment, but I'd like to be close to campus, have a decent kitchen, and have wireless Internet and utilities included. We'll see what I can find...

The whole reason I get to go apartment-looking is because my brother's team made it to the state championship semifinals (held in Murfreesboro on Wednesday). He just graduated high school, so I'm glad he's getting his final chance at a state championship with his team. If they win Wednesday, they'll play Thursday for the state championship.

On Friday, the entire Whitten clan (minus a few, who already had other plans or had conflicting plans) will be traveling to Townsend/Gatlinburg, Tennessee, for a family reunion. We're staying in cabins and just hanging out, cooking, eating, hiking, and being together. It'll be great to see everyone. I haven't met my cousin Julianne's husband, Matt, nor have I met my cousin Allison's second baby, Cole. (Secretly, the whole family really just wants to get together to see Jake and Cole...but don't tell anyone!) We'll also be taking my mom's mother to Oak Ridge to visit her sister, which will be fun, but always adds to things. It's hard when you've got someone who can't do much walking or stepping up and down anymore. I know Grandmother is excited about finally getting out and doing something, so I'm looking forward to seeing her happy again.

Alright, enough procrastinating on this apartment thing: the search must continue. Until next time...

Wondering what to drink to stay awake during finals week?

2010-04-26T23:55:00.002-05:00

Last semester, I volunteered to try energy drinks and write a column about it for The Reflector. As exam week has rolled around again, I thought I'd shamelessly promote myself ... I mean, provide advice and enlightenment to the masses. To save you the effort of clicking a link, I've reposted my column here (but you can also click here and go read it directly on The Reflector's site).

And, why yes, in case you're wondering, I'm currently drinking Mountain Dew Code Red (Diet) as I study for my Mythology and Writing for the Media exams.

Many energy drinks exist, but not all worth benefits
The Reflector, November 24, 2009

It's exam time, and that means several things: time to stop procrastinating, start looking at grades and get ready to become dependent upon caffeine and sugar-laced beverages instead of sleep.

To help readers in their studious endeavors, I volunteered to try multiple kinds of drinks and report on the taste, effectiveness and side effects.

However, I'm no expert in this, so I used Twitter to ask the Mississippi State community: "What kind of coffee concoctions, caffeinated sodas and energy drinks do you recommend?"

I received simple and complex responses, everything from "gas station black coffee" to "Well, you can't find this in Starkville anymore, but…"

I had every intention of trying all the beverages people suggested I try. I was fine until I started the energy drinks - I was willing to drink them, but apparently my stomach didn't like them.

So, here's my warning: If you haven't consumed energy drinks on a regular basis, please don't start during exam week. Your stomach may hate you, and being sick is the last thing you want to happen during exams.

Having said that, here's the list of drinks I tried, in order of least to most potent. This is how I thought the drinks affected me; it's not a scientifically-based list. See the graphic for those numbers:

1. Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino (bottled): Don't have time to wait for a drink or can't make up your mind? Grab a bottled frappuccino and go. It's really not any source for energy, but it tastes good and hey, drinking something cold helps keep you awake.

2. Diet Coke: Carbonation can help you wake up. For those of you who drink a cup of coffee or a coke a day, the minute amount of caffeine or sugar won't affect you - you might as well skip on down to No. 4 or 5.

3. Cap'n Crunch Latte from Strange Brew Coffeehouse: This wins the award for best coffee drink. There's a good balance of sweetness while maintaining a distinct coffee flavor. It didn't have much caffeine in it (I finished it off around 11 p.m. and was still able to sleep) and kept me in a much better mood as I studied for a test. Plus, Strange Brew gives you a freebie with your drink - a chocolate-covered espresso bean.

4. McDonald's Caramel Iced Coffee: If you like drinking syrup, this is your drink. I could hardly taste any coffee; in fact, it's kind of like melting a bunch of your grandmother's Werther's candy and pouring it over ice. If that's your thing, go for it. I had no sugar crash after drinking it; however, The Reflector assistant news editor April Windham reacted differently. In her words: "I got really hyper, then I got really tired, then I got hyper again! Then I jumped around and stood on top of a chair at the office, and then I got really tired and went to sleep." Yeah. Just know how you react to sugar before drinking this.

5. Mountain Dew Code Red: It's my favorite soft drink: gimme that high fructose corn syrup and that fake cherry flavor. Carbonation always wakes me up and for some reason, my body seems to think the drink's got a lot of caffeine in it. (It doesn't: a 12-ounce can contains 54 milligrams.)

6. Monster Energy Lo-Carb: I'll be honest: I couldn't even finish this one. I think I drank a third of it. I hated the taste and the aftertaste. Maybe the regular Monster is better, but I can't stomach that blue stuff again. I felt like it had the potential to give me lots of energy, but I couldn't drink it all to find out for sure. More power to all my friends who can drink several a day and function normally - more than one would kill me.

7. Starbucks Doubleshot Regular: What makes this tiny beverage so tasty? Espresso and cream. It's definitely strong, tastes like coffee and is slightly sweet. Don't shoot it, though; enjoy sipping on it (or chug half, wait a few minutes and chug the rest). There's also a light version of this drink with half the calories and a third of the total carbohydrates. Both have the same amount of caffeine (130 mg).

8. Chaser 5-hour Energy Shot: This is the only energy drink my mother and nursing student friends have recommended. Why? It doesn't have any sugar in it, is only 4 calories and contains B-vitamins, amino acids, nutrients and 138 milligrams of caffeine. Its Web site says the caffeine amount is equivalent to a normal cup of coffee, but in my opinion, these 5-hour shots work way better than coffee. Who knows, maybe Mom was right by making you take vitamins? Anyway, this is a drink you shoot and it comes in four flavors. There's also a caffeine-free version. Warning: Vitamin-laced shots like these have been known to cause upset stomachs, especially if you're not used to the ingredients. And don't drink more than two in 24 hours.

9. NOS Energy Drink: Good gracious. This was the biggest mistake I've made all semester. Kids, DON'T DRINK THIS. A 16-ounce can contains 54 grams of sugar and 260 milligrams of caffeine. It tasted great and smelled good. It didn't even seem to affect me right after I finished it; however, several hours later, I got a massive headache, my fingers started trembling and my stomach wanted to kill me. I did sleep that night, but I felt worse the next morning. My hands and legs shook the whole time I was in class and I felt nauseous. The massive headache came back and wouldn't go away. The label on the back of the can reads, "CAUTION: POWERFUL." If this is how NOS affects everyone, then that's the understatement of a lifetime.

Again, don't try energy drinks for the first time on exam week. Study hard, don't procrastinate, get some sleep, and remember: please drink responsibly.

Mini review

2010-04-21T23:20:00.013-05:00

Scroll down to "April" in this post to see what this photo's all about. (And I'm sorry it's so tiny — Blogger keeps compressing it.)

I shouldn't be updating right now, but I just looked over my blog and realized I haven't posted since January. (YIKES! That's terrible, especially for a journalism student.) It is definitely an indication of how crazy this semester has been for me — I honestly did not anticipate this semester being crazy. I knew I would be busy looking for work and facing graduation, but since I only had four classes, I figured work would be my main time-consumer (and it certainly was, but there were lots of other things...). Here's a quick run-down of my semester, and I promise that more will be coming!

January:
-Started the last semester of my senior year at Mississippi State University with four classes: Elements of Persuasion, Writing for the Media (both of those are upper-level communication courses, which is all I need to graduate), Civil Liberties/Constitutional Law and Classical Mythology (which are two classes to keep me a full-time student). I quickly realize I'm not thrilled about my communication classes, and at least three classes are going to be much harder than I anticipated...so much for an easy last semester.
-Continued as Managing Editor at The Reflector. We had a huge staff changeover in December (our editor in chief resigned, sports and entertainment editors and several senior staff writers graduated). First month wasn't bad at all, once we all got used to new people in the office.
-Prepared to take my second LSAT.
-Turned in my paperwork to be considered for the RUF internship.

February:
-Already feeling a little senioritis...and realizing it's way too early to be feeling that.
-Took my second LSAT, which was much easier than the first LSAT in December. Unfortunately, we had a lot of problems with our proctor (including being shorted on time in one section and being interrupted numerous times). I figured this might affect my score, so I went ahead and filed an irregularity report...which meant that LSAC delayed my score for three extra weeks. Not exactly what I was hoping for since I was already entering the law school game a little late.
-Had my world absolutely ripped from under me when I lost my good friend and coworker Adam. (I plan to devote a whole blog entry to this topic sometime soon, but I need a while to write it so that I do it justice.) Without going into detail, it was an extremely traumatic situation, and I was the one who had to break the news to our newsroom crew. I never want to see the looks that I saw on their faces that day ever again. It was truly one of the darkest days of my life, and just one of those times where no matter how I cried out to the Lord, I didn't know how anything good would come about through this situation. Although I'm still struggling with all of us and still miss Adam terribly, I am thankful for how it brought our newsroom together. I knew I worked with talented, funny, smart people, but when all of this happened, it really bonded us all together and we started to get past the surface with each other. I have the utmost respect for our crew and I'm glad we were all in it together.

March:
-Got my LSAT score back and went up five points, despite the crazy testing circumstances! Finished off my law school applications to UT Knoxville, Ole Miss and University of Memphis.
-Went before the RUF South committee to be interviewed for an RUF intern position. I passed, and waited anxiously for my assignment...
-Had a GREAT roadtrip across my homestate (by myself!) during spring break. Those of you who know me even just a little bit know that I'm terrible with directions. Mom gave me a Garmin unit for Christmas, and that little thing has empowered me! Love it. I won't be scared of getting lost anymore. I visited my sister and Belmont RUF in Nashville for a day, drove to Chattanooga to see dear friends from church (got to see Bryan College and then spent the night at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia), drove to Knoxville to visit the law school and hang out with friends from church and high school for two days.
-Started dating a boy...and yep, that's all I'm telling you for right now. :)
-Heard back from RUF — my internship assignment is MTSU! I don't think I could have been more excited. I wanted to go back to my home state and be close to Nashville, but I never dreamed they would actually place me there.

April:
-School is really in full swing and crazy. Oh boy.
-We had TWO apartment fires in a span of about two weeks, including one at my complex! My building wasn't affected (although it still smells like smoke), but several of my friends lost everything they owned. I just so happened to be on my way to church when I saw a cloud of smoke — like I told another newspaper editor, "I turned right back around, put my Bible down and grabbed my camera." You can read my fire story here and see the Facebook album of fire photos here. What a crazy day. I am so thankful that the Lord spared every life in those two buildings that day!
-I finished my job as Managing Editor at The Reflector. It's been a good four years there, but I am ready for a break from the newsroom. I've been in and out helping the new staff, and I've stayed on as a writer and spot photographer, but no more eidtor position. :)
-I've started raising support for my RUF internship! Be expecting to see a lot more posts about that very soon.
-School's killing me. I'm having a hard time focusing (two papers, one presentation, some reading, four exams and one honors thesis project away from graduating) — I graduate in 9 days! Please pray for perseverance.

Est frigidus!

2010-01-30T19:09:00.006-06:00

That's Latin for "It is COLD!" and that pretty much describes how I've felt most of this month. Mississippi has its share of weird weather, so it's also been in the 60s and 70s here and there throughout the month, but it's dipped below freezing many nights here. The wind is simply biting — doesn't make for a fun walk back to the apartment, although it definitely makes me walk faster! We had our first snow/ice day the first week back at school, but haven't had classes canceled since the first week. Mississippi tends to miss out on most of the fun white stuff...

I have been incredibly busy this month, which is good because it keeps me from being lazy and bad because I wish there were more hours in a day. I've been swamped with work (new hires, training new staff, getting readjusted to working five out of seven days again, etc.), new classes, job applications, law school applications, LSAT preparation, and other things. On top of that, I was sick for over a week; thankfully, it was just a really bad cold/cough, because I thought I had strep.

As of today, I have officially applied to be considered for the RUF internship program. I am really excited about this opportunity and would love for y'all to pray for me about it. I am still applying to law schools and looking for jobs, but this is another possibility. For those of you not familiar with the program, if accepted as an intern, I would be working alongside an RUF campus minister for 1-2 years, meeting with students and assisting the campus minister, but also receiving a lot of personal Bible study/mentoring from the campus minister. I would also have to raise a significant amount of support, but if that's where God wants me, I'm confident that He will provide.

I'm enjoying my classes this semester (for the most part), but I'm really ready to move on in life. I feel like I've already got a budding case of senioritis, so please pray that God will remind me to be faithful and studious in all areas!

Work at The Reflector has gone well this semester. We had four new people become editors, so I was initially worried about the transition. Things have gone smoothly and we are all getting along really well. I know that seems like a silly statement, but we all spend so much time together in that tiny room that arguments can begin and tempers can quickly get out of hand. Thankfully, pretty much everyone is laid-back and seems to really be enjoying what they're doing. I am so thankful for each one of them and am privileged to get to work with such a good group of people.

I take the LSAT again a week from today. I'm nervous and not thrilled with the lack of time that I've had to prepare for it again, but again, God is faithful and will show me if this is what I'm supposed to do.

All of this is very exciting and yet stressful. It's exciting to be thinking about graduating, but a little scary not knowing where I'll be once I finish in May. I am not a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type person and would love to have a set plan right now...but this is a good time for growing and trusting in the Lord for all those plans.

The Christmas update

2009-12-29T11:52:00.003-06:00

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

2009-12-01T23:41:00.005-06:00

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

2009-11-30T10:07:00.002-06:00

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?

2009-11-13T19:58:00.003-06:00

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

2009-11-01T01:30:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-10-31T01:11:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-29T21:52:00.022-05:00

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

2009-10-16T01:11:00.002-05:00

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

2009-09-22T16:36:00.004-05:00

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?

2009-09-11T13:59:00.004-05:00

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.

2009-09-10T01:08:00.002-05:00

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?

2009-09-07T23:04:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-17T14:47:00.001-05:00

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!

2009-05-15T18:11:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-12T10:35:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-05-10T11:24:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-08T09:28:00.008-05:00

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

2009-05-07T08:40:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-05T17:19:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-05-04T08:21:00.005-05:00

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)

2009-04-28T17:52:00.003-05:00

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

2009-01-08T13:08:00.009-06:00

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).

Oh boy, it's time for an update

2008-11-25T01:10:00.006-06:00

Friends, it has been far too long since I've updated. Wow. I had no idea it had been September since I had last written down a few of my thoughts. That alone should show how busy I've been this semester!

Where to begin... :)

Early October was Fall Break, and I got to spend it on the Gulf Coast in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, working for Lagniappe Presbyterian Church. A group from MSU's RUF went down for a few days and we had a great time building, sheetrocking, lifting walls, building relationships, and exploring New Orleans! Here's our goofy group picture:

In mid-October, I became copy editor at The Reflector. Basically, this means I scour all the pages of the newspaper multiple times before it is printed to find errors; in other words, when there are mistakes printed, it's sometimes my fault. It's teaching me humility (because who likes having their mistakes pointed out for over 12,000 readers to see?) and patience with the other editors. (And oh yeah, since copy editor reads the whole paper, if we print anything libelous or have a lawsuit against us, I'm automatically involved. Yikes.) Prior to this, I had just been a news writer and photographer, so it's been quite an adjustment. I'm in the office ALL THE TIME and am never home for dinner, except on weekends. I really do like it, but it has been a challenge and a huge time consumer. The pay increase has been a God-send and I'm thankful for more time to be salt and light in the newsroom, even though it's difficult. I am sorely outnumbered in the newsroom on multiple levels, one being that I am the only girl among eight guys in the newsroom! (The editor in chief is also a girl, but she has her own office just down the hall from the chaos of the newsroom.)

I also turned 21 mid-October and survived. ;) I had a great time out with friends for dinner (and yes, a first drink) and then my incredible roommates had a ton of people over for cake and ice cream at our apartment, plus they decorated. This roomie made me a crown:

Other than that, things have just stayed constantly busy. School work consumes me (as usual), but I like most of it. I've recently discovered my passion for law (specifically media law) and am looking into the legal field since the journalism market is currently frozen (no hiring whatsoever). I know I don't want to be a lawyer, but I'm looking into the paralegal and legal secretary fields.

I think that's more than enough for now. You know, each semester, I pledge to make better use of my time, stay in touch with family and friends from home, and make some time to rest and chill. I think that last part has happened several times this semester, but the other two areas, eh, not so much. I look forward to being home for the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks to catch up with everyone (and I guess I'm looking forward to a fresh semester so I can make yet another vow to use my time more wisely!). Please keep those blogs and pictures coming - while I don't always make time to write, I do make time to read. :)

Just got back from the presidential debate

2008-09-27T02:03:00.003-05:00

All hell broke loose today in the newsroom with news that one, our current interim president and the head of IHL are currently under investigation; two, there was an emergency meeting regarding the hiring of our new university president; and three, IHL still says we will have a president announced by November. It was a MAD HOUSE...two reporters and two editors working online, on the phones, pulling up all that we could find. It's days like that when I realize how much I love the journalism industry.

As I worked calling several Mississippi agencies, my sister called. I took a five minute break to catch up with her, then received a beep in from a Gulf Coast number. Fortunately, I switched over to take the call. It was someone from the public relations department at the University of Mississippi (more commonly known as Ole Miss down here) calling to see how many reporters and photographers we were bringing to the debate tonight.

"I was under the impression that we couldn't get on campus tonight," I said.

"Oh no, you're welcome to come! No press passes left or tickets to the actual debate, but you're free to hang out in any of the common areas on campus - we're showing it in the Grove."

"Great! Thank you so much!" Click, close phone, run back into the newsroom. "WHO'S FREE TO GO TO OXFORD TONIGHT?!"

"WHAT!? WE CAN GO?"

"YES!"

Okay, I realize that was a little dramatic, but we were just so excited to get to be there. Three of us got to go - a fellow reporter and the photography editor. We had a good ride down there and the weather was incredible. Kudos to Ole Miss for a job well done - very well organized, friendly volunteers/workers, clean facilities, and decent parking. Not to mention excellent idea to broadcast the debate in the Grove on two big screens to enable thousands to stay on campus, even if they couldn't make it inside to the actual debate.

I'm in the process of writing a story about the debate - it'll be interesting. Still haven't figured out exactly how I feel about the debate - were questions really answered, who has solid ideas, where in the world are we going to come up with something to get the country out of this economic crisis?

Okay, enough researching, reading, Twittering, and typing. It's been a very long day and I'm headed to bed...FINALLY.

Links to articles on Palin and Obama

2008-09-08T07:36:00.002-05:00

Got up early this morning to get some interview questions written for an interview that I have in less than an hour...need to go find some dressy clothes that I can be comfortable in all day on campus!

Found these two articles via Drudge Report while eating breakfast and thought I would share:

The first is a three page article from the International Herald Tribune about Sarah Palin and her Downs Syndrome infant Trig. Really well written; shows her struggle with everyone, examines the rapidity of which she went back to work after Trig's birth, and talks about how her family handled it. Here's the link: Palin fuses politics and motherhood in a new way

The second is a short article from The Washington Times about Barak Obama's verbal slip Sunday while he was being interviewed by ABC's George Stephanopoulos on "This Week." (In case you haven't heard, he accidently said "my Muslim faith" instead of "my Christian faith," and Stephanopoulos was the one who immediately corrected him.) I'm not an Obama fan, but I do pity that slip. I've definitely done things like that! (Yet no one's paying that much attention to me so it's not a big deal anyway.) Here's the link: Obama's verbal slip fuels his critics

So it's totally unacceptable to be pro-life?

2008-09-02T16:45:00.006-05:00

Gov. Sarah Palin with husband Todd and infant son Trig, who has Downs Syndrome.

Today's issue of The New York Times featured not one, not two, but three stories on Gov. Sarah Palin's 17 year-old unwed and pregnant daughter Bristol ON THE FRONT PAGE.

Seriously? Who deemed all three front page stories necessary? Very tactful, NY Times. Excellent work.

As countless politicians and public figures (McCain, Obama, and Thompson, to name a few) have said, it's a private matter. Sadly, it's now under public scrutiny simply because Palin is McCain's running mate.

The press has been merciless in bringing this issue to light and honestly, it's none of their business (so one might ask why I'm blogging about it...). I don't believe in hiding the issue, but please, let the girl have some privacy. (Lord knows if McCain and Palin take office that neither Bristol nor the rest of the families will have any privacy.)

I'm cheering for Palin and for Bristol - why? Because it's obvious that they're pro-life. One, they've been open about Bristol's pregnancy, the baby's father, and the fact that she plans to marry the father and keep the baby. Two, Palin's fifth child, Trig, has Down's Syndrome. Due to pre-natal genetic testing, Mr. and Gov. Palin knew that Trig would be born with Down's Syndrome, yet they chose to keep him - even despite family pressures from Gov. Palin's own mother. I find it disgusting that the grandmother of a child that's already been born and a great-grandchild still in the womb would still talk about the possibility of abortion. Seriously, what is wrong with you?

So what do I think? Let's leave Bristol Palin alone and focus on Gov. Palin; after all, how is this side story really going to change Gov. Palin's ability to lead our country in the role of vice president? And let all the pro-life voters out there commend Gov. Palin and her family, speak up, and stick with them - after all, isn't this the kind of person we've been wanting in office for years?

Suffering from mouth ulcers/sores?

2008-08-21T10:29:00.004-05:00

Yikes, what a gross title. I also realize this may win the award for the most random blog post (potentially ever), but I wanted to share this great product with anyone who might need it!

If you get mouth ulcers/sores (different than fever blisters that appear around the outside of your mouth), have rub spots from braces or dentures, or other irritations/injuries to your mouth and gum area, you should try Colgate's Orabase. I've had the worst ulcer on my gumline/inside lip for a week now, as well as two small ulcers on my tongue caused by a daily medication. I finally broke down last night and headed to Kroger to buy Orajel, which is what I've used in the past. Even though the relief doesn't last very long, it still keeps the spot numb for a few minutes.

After seeing the ADA (American Dental Association) seal on Orabase, I picked it up instead. Wow. If you suffer from any kinds of mouth sores, try it. Just by applying a pindrop-sized drop of the paste makes the spot go numb for a while, plus the pain decreases even when you start to regain feeling in the area.

It's a little pricey ($5.99 at Kroger and the box size is very deceiving - the tube is only 0.21 ounces), but it really does work. I bought the paste, but the web site shows that it comes in a gel form as well. As always, follow the instructions and check with a doctor or dentist if anything strange happens. I'm no expert, but I really do recommend this product. Thank you, Colgate!

Olympic spirit

2008-08-09T00:29:00.005-05:00

I'll be the first to admit that I was less than excited about some of the things that I've heard about the Beijing Olympics. After watching the opening ceremony tonight, my expectations changed.

Kudos to China for a truly spectacular opening ceremony! Watching Li Ning light the cauldron was an experience that I'll remember for a long time. Incredible vision, engineering, and just plain skills over there.

Watching China's Yao Ming carry the Chinese flag into the stadium brought tears to my eyes - not because of Yao, but because of the nine year-old boy walking beside him. Second grader Lin Hao survived the May earthquake of a 8.0 magnitude that killed 28 of 31 students in his class. After freeing himself from the rubble, he went back in to save two of his classmates. When asked why, he said that he was a leader (a hall monitor) and it was his responsibility.

Photo from http://en.beijing2008.cn/ceremonies/headlines/n214518587.shtml

Wow. And that's coming from a nine year-old. That's the Olympic spirit.

Read the story from the official Olympic web site here.

Cat weighs 44 pounds (the weight of an average five-year old)

2008-07-30T18:04:00.006-05:00

While I was in New York in May, I received news that my beloved Mississippi was the "fattest station in the nation" for the third year running (according to CalorieLab; other articles and sites have said that this is the fourth year for Mississippi - alas). My home state of Tennessee falls closely behind at number six. The article gives the typical reasons and explanations for Mississippi's obesity: fast food is quick, convienent, and located everywhere, while some of the grocery stores (you know, where you buy fruits and veggies and all that great healthy stuff) are over 40 miles away. Crazy, but it's not hard for me to believe!

Would you know, obesity's even becoming a very large (pun intended) problem even with pets. Check out this monster of a cat, nicknamed "Princess Chunk," found wandering the streets of New Jersey:

She weighs 44 pounds! To put that into perspective, that's the average size of a five-year old child, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Read the complete article and view a slideshow of other strange pets (including a woman who has her lab running for town mayor) here.

Looking for baby names? Don't use these.

2008-07-17T16:03:00.004-05:00

Not to turn into a baby names blog or a celebrity blog, but I found this quite crazy, amusing, and sad...all at the same time:

Interesting Baby Names

Some of the most unique/horrible baby names: Dweezel, Moon Unit, Diva Muffin (those three are Frank Zappa's kids), Sage Moonblood (Sylvester Stallone), Audio Science (Shannyn Sossamon), Poppy Honey, Daisy Boo (both are Jamie Oliver's children), Moxie Crimefighter (Penn Jillete), Little Pixie (Bob Geldof), Pilot Inspektor (Jason Lee), and Jermajesty (Jermaine Jackson).

Yikes. Apart from a few normal names that made the list (Pierce Brosnan's son is Dylan Thomas and Kate Hudson's son is Ryder Russell- please explain how those two made the list) and few unique (in a good way) names (John Mellencamp's daughter is Justice and Jessica Alba's daughter is Honor), most of them are cruel and unusual punishment.

For the love of all things good, holy, and right in the world, please don't name your children something crazy...like Lemonjello and Orangejello (twin boys, rumor has it they might be in Memphis?).

Dad sells baby's name for $100 gas card

2008-07-12T17:18:00.003-05:00

Yes, that's an actual headline.

What have parent succumbed to these days? I mean, I know gas prices are ridiculous, but giving up the right and privilege to name your own son for a $100 gas card? That poor kid. He'll have a great story about his name that will haunt him for the rest of his life.

ORLANDO, Fla. (July 12) - An Orlando man has traded the naming rights to his unborn son for a $100 gas card.

David Partin recently heard that a local radio station was giving $100 worth of free gas to the listener who called in with the most interesting item to trade. Central Florida radio hosts Richard Dixon and J. Willoughby were quick to take Partin up on his offer, The Orlando Sentinel reports.

When the baby is born this winter, he will be named Dixon and Willoughby Partin — with the "and" included.

Partin's girlfriend, Samantha, says at least her son will have an interesting story about how he got his name.

Dixon and Willoughby plan to be at the hospital when the baby is born and will hand over the gas card when they see the official birth certificate.

To read the official AP story and to view the photo of the couple, click here.

To read to original article (published in The Orlando Sentinel), click here.

Items found at a Mississippi gas station

2008-07-05T10:15:00.004-05:00

This post is mainly for some of my Yank - I mean friends up north who loved teasing me about my Southern drawl (which is very minor compared to most of the people at my school, but whatever), overalls, wearing shorts to class because it’s 95+ degrees for at least three months, saying “funny” words and phrases like “y’all,” “reckon,” “yonder,” “Mis-sipi” (sound it out – the lazy yet much shorter way to say “Mississippi”), “you’re slower than molasses running uphill in January,” “I’m up a creek with no paddle” and “where are the cows in this god-forsaken city!?” (Okay, I exaggerate just a little.)

Last week, my family took a four-day trip (two days driving, two days at the beach) to Orange Beach (Gulf Shores), Alabama. Of course, this meant driving from Memphis, through Tupelo, past Starkville (home of Mississippi State University, where I now fondly call second home), into Meridian, and…well, I’m not exactly sure what we went through after that. It involved probably hundreds of small towns (populations averaging 64, counting the cows and chickens) in Mississippi and Alabama, and stops at those places are sometimes my favorite. I think you’ll see why.

Items found at Mississippi gas station, somewhere in-between Citronelle (let’s just say that’s close to Mobile, Alabama, because that’s the largest/most recognizable city nearby) and Meridian (Mississippi):

A bottle opener that makes four different turkey calls (and sadly, there was only one left, so they have sold some)
Pantyhose (all different shades and sizes)
A sign on the door reading “Pants must be pulled up and shirts worn inside for service.” (Kind of sad that they have to post that on the door.)
Sticks of homemade beef jerky in a plastic dispenser labeled, “Please pay at the register” (I’m not doing a very good job explaining this one: you would just push the handle down like a toothpick or straw dispenser and out popped your beef jerky. As my friend Hannah says, sick dog.)
All kinds of wise redneck sayings and clichés on t-shirts, cozies, baseball caps, cell phone covers and bumper stickers (Regretfully, I didn’t have much time to ponder these. We make very quick fill-up/bathroom stops.)

Man, I love the South…home is good. :)

Confession

2008-07-03T00:06:00.002-05:00

Confession for the blog world out there: I've been jealous.

Through various events this summer, I've started to realize how slow I am to rejoice with others in their blessings. Whether it be incredible internships, fast-paced freelancing jobs, people hunting them down for job interviews, getting the job of their dreams, finding "the one" (that refers to all the great weddings and showers going on this season!), the list could probably go on a little ways.

(By the way, "slow to rejoice" is just a nicer way of admitting that I'm simply jealous.)

Instead of rejoicing in what they've been given, my first thought has usually been, "Lord, why didn't you bless me with something like that? How come my freelancing jobs haven't come through whatsoever? Why did the paid internship fall through when it seemed like I had it? Are You closing these doors to tell me to consider a different career?"

While this summer (after returning from New York) certainly seemed discouraging in several aspects, I've realized that the Lord is teaching me to rejoice in what He's given to me and what He's given to others. He has certainly been gracious to me. Although it wasn't my plan, I've returned to the job that I've had for almost three years. It's perfect for my schedule. While I haven't received the hours that want/need, that's enabled me to catch up on so many things: family, reading for pleasure (it's been well over a year since I've been able to pick up a book for pleasure), having heart-to-hearts with close friends and volunteering at Life Choices. These are things that I've longed to do for quite some time, but in the chaos of last summer and my other breaks from school, they rarely happen.

The Lord has reminded me that all things come from Him and come according to His perfect timing, not mine. So while I might have already planned out my summer months in advance, He's the one in control of it all (Prov. 20:24).

I haven't "fixed" my discontentment yet (nor can I, because I can't "fix things" on my own), but the Lord has graciously reminded me that He is faithful and will provide exactly what I need when I need it. He has started to show me how wonderful it is to rejoice with others in what He's given them. I am so grateful for how He has blessed me and continues to bless me, and I'm thankful that He has been so gracious to my dear friends, family and coworkers this summer. What sweet comfort to know that our Heavenly Father sees fit to bless us with exactly what we need and will never leave us. He's got it all under control!

I have so much left to learn

2008-06-23T11:20:00.003-05:00

It never ceases to amaze me just how little I know.

Today, two sweet girls from the Mormon church came knocking on my front door. I was the only one home (funny, that happened the last time they came) and by the time I hit the stairs and realized who they were, I knew I had to open the door. I wasn't ready or prepared to speak to them; I had just been researching contacts for one of my stories and definitely was not in the mindset to be thinking, "Okay, how can I engage these girls?"

They spoke to me for a few minutes, asking how familiar I was with the Mormon church. They were glad to hear that I had a Mormon friend and were surprised to hear that I had studied the Mormon religion at my high school (Just to clear things up: studied, not believed, meaning we were taught about it, but not taught to believe it. I went to an Evangelical Christian high school.) We actually watched this video in high school, and it basically sums up what I remember learning about the Mormon faith. I know there was more, but that would require me finding my Bible 12 notes to remember everything.

They offered me a little information, encouraged me to check out their web site for non-church members, and gave me a card with a phone number and the web site address.

Every time the Mormon church comes up, whether it's in a conversation, seeing that friend of mine pop up on Facebook, or having Mormon missionaries knock on my door, I instantly regret not knowing more about what others believe. There are so many different religions out there, but the Mormon religion keeps coming back to me again and again. I just wish I knew more about it so that I could actually sit down and have an intelligent, non-threatening conversations with those who come with the intent to get me interested (and eventually converted).

I admire their hearts - although they're required to be missionaries for the Mormon church for at least 18 months (I thought it was two years, but I can't find the exact number), they do it very nicely and sincerely. They weren't pushy and simply want to offer further information. Sometimes I feel like the Christian church could take a lesson in evangelism just by watching how fervent other religions are in their efforts to convert.

So this summer, I'm making it a priority: I'm going to review the teachings of the Mormon church and find out what they believe so that I can effectively sit down with their missionaries and start asking questions...with the intent of pointing them back to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Writer's block

2008-06-10T10:56:00.004-05:00

I have a severe case of writer's block. I'm finally home in Memphis and bored/procrastinating/really don't want to unpack my room. (Long story. I've moved back home for the summer and therefore must unpack, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but those are the rules here.) There's always lots to do here, I just can't figure out what to write about nor can I really seem to get motivated about writing. Bummer. It's been a long time since I've had writer's block.

I guess it is good to be home, though. I missed the South, mainly family and my church, but also friends, sweet tea, Southern accents, hot weather, wildlife (I saw squirrels in the backyard today and realized that I never saw any while I was in New York - how sad), working out (shocking, I know), Mom's cooking, real barbecue, wearing t-shirts, country music, and my bed.

Someone once told me that after I came back home from college, home wouldn't be the same. Sadly, they were right. I feel "at home," but I feel like I've left a piece of me everywhere that I've been. Part of me is here in Memphis, another part of me is in Starkville, Mississippi, and a small part of me is in New York. From now on, I guess I'll just miss people no matter where I am...how about we all move to one place and fix this? :)

On the upside, I'm planning on writing a story focusing on several Memphis barbecue joints, and that makes me pretty excited. There are two close to my dad's business, and they're these little hole-in-the-wall places with some of the best stuff around town. I'm looking forward to sitting down with the cooks, owners, and customers to hear their stories and taste some of that delicious barbecue. Anyone have suggestions for places I should visit?

The code to Narnia cracked

2008-05-31T00:14:00.007-05:00

One of the things I’m most excited about this summer is reading new books. I’ve got well over 20 on my “to-read” list, mostly new books with some old favorites mixed in here and there. (Go ahead, call me a nerd. I’m thrilled about reading for pleasure instead of classes.)

As of Tuesday night, one of my old favorites, The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis), jumped from the lower middle of my list to the top of my list – plus I’ve now managed to pick one of the 20+ books from WJI to read on my flights/layovers back home.

The book that I’ll be reading on my way back to Memphis – Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis by Michael Ward.

I had the privilege of hearing Ward lecture in New York at Socrates in the City Tuesday evening. There’s no way to sum up everything that he talked about, but in short, he has cracked Lewis’s code in the Narnia series, linking elements to Lewis’s study of medieval cosmology.

If you’re like me, maybe you didn’t initially realize the books had a “code.” Even so, did you ever wonder about certain elements that Lewis throws into his series, like Father Christmas? I know that I did…I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why Father Christmas appeared in the books. Ward explained this – and other confusing elements – in Lewis’s books. I can’t begin to tell you how I felt as Ward fully explained Father Christmas – the light bulb finally went off for me!

Some might say that cracking Lewis’s code ruins the series. I would argue with Ward and say that it doesn’t; instead, it makes sense of the confusions and gives us a greater understanding and appreciation of the author and his intent.

Two things I really appreciated about Ward’s lecture: First, he began with Psalm 19 (“The heavens declare the glory of God…”), which is one of my favorite psalms. It was a reminder that even literature – a form of God’s creation – can point others to Him and bring Him glory. Secondly, he said something along the lines of this during the lecture (paraphrased): “If we can’t figure out the world of a children’s book [because the Narnia series was intended for children], how can we figure out all of the real world made by an infinite Creator?” That helped me put things into perspective and remember that it’s okay that I don’t have everything about the world figured out.

I started to blog exactly what Ward spoke about during his lecture and then realized that would kill the secret. I’ve given the links to the book, so go get your curious self a copy and then we’ll talk about it further.

(By the way, my second layover/plane book will probably be Eric Metaxas’s Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery. Metaxas is the founder and host of Socrates in the City and graciously allowed the WJI students to attend Tuesday evening – thanks, Eric!)

Visit to the World Trade Center

2008-05-28T00:29:00.011-05:00

During our WJI class last Friday, we received an assignment to go interview someone who worked in New York. We were broken up into groups of two or three (and some singles) and given the afternoon to find an interesting New Yorker and tell their story via photographs and audio recording. James H. had the idea to visit the World Trade Center in hopes that we could interview a construction worker, so we headed that way. Camera, pens, steno pad, and DAR (that's digital audio recorder for you non-WJI/non-technology readers) in tow, we formed our interview questions during the subway ride to Manhattan.

As the train roared through the subway, James pointed out the former Cortland Street stop, which has been closed since 9/11. They are doing construction on it and several of the subway signs indicate that it was expected to be opened by fall 2006. Looking at the reconstruction was a solemn reminder that the planes didn't just take out buildings; they took out subways, too.

After we got off the train, we had to walk for a few minutes to get to the site. I honestly didn't know what to expect. We walked down a dim street and rounded a corner...then I saw it. Not the site, not the gaping holes, not even the crowd of onlookers by the fences around all the construction.

Not a particularly moving picture, but it's a lanyard - a reminder of a person's identity - tied to part of the scaffold from what appears to be a new monument. Attached to the lanyard is a decorative ponytail holder, the kind that only a small child would wear. It suddenly hit me: this item represents some one's father, mother, sister, brother, cousin, best friend, co-worker who died at 9/11.

I hadn't even looked at the actual site, seem the memorial, or listened to the sounds around me and yet I was already overwhelmed. I swallowed, took a deep breath, reached into my camera bag, snapped on my lens, and started shooting, telling myself, "There's a story that needs to be told. Do it."

We kept walking and dodging tourists, vendors, workers, and commuters. We were surrounded by the noise of the city, but I still felt like it was quiet; something was missing. That something was laughter. It will be seven years this September and yet the area's still solemn and missing something else beside the towers.

James and I found Harry Roland, a self-described advocate who worked at the South Tower prior and during 9/11. Roland comes to the site every day with a backpack loaded with photo albums of the site prior to, during, and after 9/11 to remind people that seven buildings were destroyed at 9/11, not just the towers. It was an incredible interview and photo opp. Our audio from the the project is pretty rough (thankfully not our fault), but it turned out well. We told Roland's story. (I may post the link later.)

This is one of Roland's albums; I loved this photo simply because it reminds me of a Bible - it represents this man's story.

The site itself wasn't particularly moving or impressive. It looks like a massive mess of a construction site. Once I got up high enough, I could see that there's damage and not just reconstruction. I saw holes from where the towers stood and underground where the mall was under one of the towers. (Until I met Roland, I had no idea that there was a shopping mall under the WTC.)

Music changes tone of NYC subways

2008-05-26T00:25:00.005-05:00

Rolling suitcases. Passengers running down to platforms at Olympic record speeds. The wafting aroma of Starbucks and cheap fast food.

Flashing signs with train time updates and advertisements. The looks of exhausted and irritated passengers struggling with their luggage as they head to their next stop.

But in one corner of chaos called Penn Station lies something different. A small crowd has gathered around a petite woman, just taller than her microphone stand, nearly overshadowed by her acoustic guitar.

Her name is Nicola Vazquez and she’s playing music in the subway. She calls herself Nicola.

Dressed in black and wearing pigtails, she’s clearly enjoying her performance, grinning in between verses, and smiling and giving slight bows and nods after each song. Nicola thrives off her audience, catching their eyes and singing straight into them.

Leaning into her guitar and away from the microphone, her fingers fly across the frets. She alternates between delicate picking patterns to punctuated, pulsing chords.

The stage is the slick floor of the subway, lit by the glow of the neon yellow McDonald’s sign. Just below Nicola’s feet lie a small amp and an open guitar case, displaying Nicola’s CDs and providing an avenue for donations.

Nicola is just one of over 100 sanctioned subway performers from MTA’s Music Under New York program.

Manager with Arts for Transit and Music Under New York Lydia Bradshaw says the program appeals to the public.

“It’s like an event and it’s a nice ambiance to come across,” Bradshaw says.

She says Music Under New York provides 150 subway performances each week, covering all kinds of genres.

“We have all kinds of acts for the roster,” Bradsaw says. “It’s kind of a reflection of all the different cultures and people in New York.”

Nicola says she performs in the subway because she enjoys the interaction with various kinds of people.

“You meet a lot of people and gain experience,” she explains. “Where else are you going to meet such a cross-section of people?”

In his article “In Subway Platform, These Musicians Set Their Stage” from The New York Times, Corey Kilgannon writes that the program provides an extensive variety of music. It also includes musicians from across the world, including Africa and South America, exposing commuters to all kinds of music, languages and instruments.

Millions of people pass through New York’s subways every year and Nicola says they handle and respond to subway music differently.

The lack of a stage creates a completely different atmosphere than an actual venue.

“There’s no separation between you and your audience so you cannot be squeamish,” Nicola says.

Audience members sometimes get right Nicola’s face or try to speak to her while she’s performing. While it can be annoying, she realizes that an unusual kind of venue presents different challenges.

“The basic thing is, you take the good with the bad,” she says, shrugging her shoulders. “You’re going to meet people, you’re going to make connections.”

Having music in the subway creates a different and unexpected environment, Nicola says.

“Music is very soothing; it gives people peace,” she says. “The music in the program brings a pleasant atmosphere.”

Nicola said that none of her subway performances are the same because the audience changes and she never knows how people will respond or how many will buy her music.

“Every night’s different, it’s very random,” she says.

Nicola has played guitar and sung since age seven. In addition to solo performances, she also sings has a band, also called Nicola. The band does not perform with her at the subway, but they perform at other venues.

The challenging subway location gives Nicola a different focus and goal during her performance.

“If I can hold someone for a minute, I’ve accomplished something,” she says. “It’s building me – the longer I’m down here, the better I get.”

Nicola notes that she initially did not make it into the program on her first audition. She auditioned again and has been a subway performer for over three years.

“I’m very grateful and thankful to have been accepted,” she says. “Were it not for this program, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Ode to Technology

2008-05-22T23:28:00.005-05:00

Oh technology, thou are wonderful and great.
Thou has kept my hands from becoming ink-stained
Thou has enabled me to keep up with my notes electronically
Thou has allowed me to take loads of photographs
Thou has also stored said photographs.
Thou has equipped me to better waste my time on the evil known as Facebook.
Quite frankly, technology,
Thou hast saved my rear many a time.

But tonight, technology, alas, my love has faded
For thou has not kept up with all of my audio recording (which is due tomorrow)
Technology, why must thou plague me this way?
Why must thou refuse to cooperate and lose my material, especially the night before a deadline?
Why, technology, why?
Thou are cruel and unjust
Thou art not dependable
Thou only frustrates and bringeth despair.

Oh technology, tonight, I do not love thee.

A few thoughts on the NYC subway

2008-05-21T01:40:00.007-05:00

Why is there music in the New York subways?

This was the question I asked myself last week as I boarded my first subway train.

Over the week, I was fascinated to hear various musicians at subway stops across New York.   I got to interview the manager of the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) Arts for Transit program here in New York yesterday and just thought about how interesting the concept of music is in a noisy, crazy, bustling place like the subway system.

I came to find out that there’s over 100 musicians on a roster that are allowed to perform in the subway system. They audition for spots; this year, over 200 people auditioned and only 23 were chosen. I found a blog with pictures of this year’s auditions and there are people playing instruments that I’ve never seen – much less heard of – before a few days ago.

These subway performers are not paid through the program; they make their money through donations from the public. It gives them a venue to interact with commuters and use their music to encourage and soothe those in the subways.

Late last night, I caught one of the subway performers, a singer named Nicola. I watched as she held a steady crowd and sang above all the noise and chaos in the subway system. She was kind enough to talk to me after she finished around 11. We chatted as she packed up her equipment. I asked her a few questions, but mostly went from what she started telling me about her subway gig.

She said one of the most difficult parts about performing in the subway is the lack of a real stage. I hadn’t even considered that as a challenge, but it presents a very real issue. I watched as people walked right up to her face to drop money in her guitar case or wave, even during the middle of one of her songs. Honestly, people can be rude and disrespectful by getting too close or trying to speak to a musician while she’s in the middle of a performance. What happened to common courtesy? People wouldn’t do things like that during a concert at a “normal” venue.

It’s still such a crazy concept to me. Wouldn’t these subway musicians much rather be in concert halls or even bars performing with a much more attentive audience? Why are they willing to perform and share their amazing skills and talents with an audience that often seems unappreciative? Do they like the way their music sounds in the subway? How hard it is to make yourself heard above the hubbub? Is it just as much for tourists as it is for everyday New York commuters? I couldn’t really find anyone who gave me complete answers to these questions, but maybe I’ll head back to the subways this week and keep asking.

I enjoyed watching the audience response to the music. Very few walk by and completely ignore the musicians. I’ve only witnessed one rude audience member and he was only rude because he didn’t like the religious music that one group sang. As he asked me very loudly, “You think if I give them money they’d shut the [expletive] up? I hate that stuff, I have no religion.” Another male audience member approached a female singer as she packed up her equipment and asked her to sign his hand. She smiled and graciously granted his request, which was probably more than I could have done. I honestly don’t know how I would respond to situations like that.

I appreciate the Music Under New York program and find it fascinating that someone took the time to realize that adding something as simple as music might help soothe and settle some of the chaos that is the New York subway system. I think it’s important that they continue to expand their program and work to maintain diversity on their music roster.

I can't believe I did this...

2008-05-21T00:53:00.005-05:00

Last Friday night/Saturday morning, I camped out for a chance at getting tickets to Saturday Night Live's season finale (Steve Carell from The Office, John McCain, and Usher). It was fun, but one of the craziest/stupidest things I've done in a LONG time. Friday, we were in class 8:30-1 and then had two deadlines to meet that afternoon. We also had to be in class Saturday morning by 9. What were we thinking...

This is the group of girls: Mary Catherine, Molly, Debs, and yours truly. James and Chris were also with us. And yes, we did get in to the dress rehearsal. It was fun, but it was a pretty dirty episode. Hope they cut some of the nasty stuff out of the real show. Steve Carell is so talented. It was exciting to see John McCain and hey, he's got guts to appear in New York and poke fun of his age on SNL. Usher, um, he is talented and a very attractive man. I think it would be wise for me to leave it at that or I'll run into a rant.

New York is wonderful. I'm blown away by how many opportunities there are here. I'm blessed to live in a "big" city, but I feel like it's a map dot compared to New York. I'm also humbled every day through subtle and not-so-subtle reminders of how much I have to learn - and it's not just journalism.

New York is also cold. I should have brought something other than a sweatshirt and a blazer. (Thank you, Kate! You've seriously aided my professional image..hah.)

Okay, off to keep writing stories. Currently pondering, sorting through, and working on a New York piece that required me going out into a totally unfamiliar place and approaching and interviewing complete strangers. Loved it. (Isn't that crazy? I've never minded talking to complete strangers, but I thought being in an unfamiliar city might really throw me a huge curve ball.) I just wish I had another day or two to better craft my story...but hey, that's always my thought on pretty much every story.

Faulkner and Oral Tradition

2008-05-16T18:52:00.000-05:00

Before written languages, the only way to remember people was through oral tradition: the telling of stories passed from one generation to the next. Men sought an epic quest, whether through a journey, battle or pursuit of a villain, and hoped that the story of their conquest would immortalize them after their death. While they would not continue to dwell on earth in their physical bodies, they hoped to live on through stories of their successes. A life without any stories of triumph meant disgrace because there would be no remembrance of the man after his death.

William Faulkner’s The Bear exhibits the characteristics of such a story. The tale describes a band of men who seek Old Ben, a legendary and almost invincible bear. While Faulkner’s loaded, winding sentences prove difficult to read on paper, they are well-crafted examples of the oral tradition style.

The hunters show fierce dedication and competitiveness, sharing camaraderie in their common goal to finish off Old Ben. Refusing to back down from an animal that has escaped death at least fifty-two times (by bullets alone), the men demonstrate unshakeable determination. They vow that they will break him, conquering him and all others that have failed in their attempts.

Today, everyone still wants to be remembered after his death. Instead of living lives of self-focus, men should seek a quest aiding others, like the group of men in Faulkner’s story. There is no glory in being remembered for things done for self-gratification.

Gay Telese's Epic Story (Frank Sinatra Has a Cold)

2008-05-16T01:42:00.001-05:00

If today’s celebrity profiling/entertainment writers wrote their articles like Gay Talese did, I might keep up with celebrities; not to follow the subject matter of the article, but to simply to enjoy the way the stories would read because of a masterful author.

Talese revolutionized journalism through his literary style. He employed a storytelling method instead of a hard news reporting and yet he also incorporated classical literary devices into his writing. In Frank Sinatra Has a Cold, Talese begins the story in medias res, Latin for “into the middle of things.” This is exactly how Virgil begins his epic poem The Aeneid. Talese shows his brilliance by placing a classical literary element into an article that reads just like an epic story.

I couldn’t put down Talese’s story. His elegant sentences, clear observations and his conversational and storytelling measures make the story personal. Instead of reading an article about Frank Sinatra – a man whom I know very little about – I felt like I was there observing Sinatra with Talese. I became so caught up that I forgot I was reading.

Today’s journalists focus heavily on hard news and quick stories planned and written after one or two interviews with a celebrity. By following Sinatra around, listening to him, paying attention to the small details and research, Talese seems to capture Sinatra’s essence in his article. It is not another boring article about a celebrity rear-ending another SUV; it is a well crafted, clearly written work, worthy of multiple re-readings.

Reconsidering chaos: My world versus Rwanda's genocide

2008-05-14T01:09:00.001-05:00

Reading Philip Gourevitch’s We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families (punctuation is as appears on the book’s cover), makes the word “chaos” take on a completely different meaning.

Recently I’ve used the word “chaos” to describe a various number of things, mainly my lack of a set schedule due to exams, moving back home and searching for a job.

Gourevitch uses the word “chaos” to illustrate genocide – something very different than my portrayal of the word. Through his own words and the words of his sources, Gourevitch clearly indicates that there is more to chaos than my definition.

Dr. Eliel Ntaki used the word “chaos” to avoid using “genocide”, describing chaos as “every man for himself.” Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana also substituted “chaos” for “genocide.” After saying Jesus is the only one who can take away hatred and sin, he closed with, “Everything is chaos.”

Reading the book during one of the busiest times of my semester, I realized that contrary to how I felt, my life was not chaos. I was chasing my studies, not being hunted down because of my ethnicity. I was tired because of studying, not because I was on the run for my life. I was hurting from lack of sleep, not because I had been beaten, raped and left for dead.

After finishing the book, I felt as if there were truly no words in the English language to describe what has happened in Rwanda, but perhaps Gourevitch’s exposition on “chaos” is the closest possible definition.

Handling grief: The Shawl & Cindy Sheehan

2008-05-08T02:23:00.002-05:00

Words cannot express how thankful I am to have a normal immediate family, specifically a normal mother who doesn’t obsess over the past and live in a state of frenzied grief.

That was the first thought that entered my mind after completing Cynthia Ozick’s The Shawl. Ozick’s tale portrays a woman named Rosa during and following the time of the Nazi reign. Rosa witnesses a Nazi guard murdering her daughter Magda and the incident scars her for the remainder of her life. She continues to live in the past, shows odd signs of grief (destroying her store and needing Magda’s shawl), and refuses to let anyone into her life.

As I read, I kept thinking, “Get over it! Move on and finish grieving!”

Then I realized that I hadn’t been through anything close to this traumatic. Strangely, my memory jumped to Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq in 2004.

Mrs. Sheehan claims that her son died "for nothing," taking extreme measures trying to prove her point. She lost her marriage and funds and many questioned her sanity because of her decisions.

I’m sure it’s difficult to let go and to finish grieving over events with such a magnitude as losing a loved one – especially a child – whether from the Holocaust or the war in Iraq. While I don’t agree with either woman’s methods or madness in grieving, I have no reference point for dealing with such an event. I can’t help but wonder how such an event would impact my own life and how I would handle such grief.

Write about yourself...in 100 words

2008-05-08T00:45:00.007-05:00

So I cheated the system a little bit and made this over 100 words. I didn't think I would have any trouble writing my bio for WJI, but it was really hard for me to stick to such a short amount of words! Guess I need to work on being brief...being an English major has trained me to expound upon everything that I know while being a Journalism major has trained me to keep it short and sweet and still get the point across adequately.

(The assignment was to write a 100 word bio, including journalism background and goals. Try it sometime and see if you go over, too.)

I’m a rising junior from Memphis, Tenn., studying journalism and English at Mississippi State University. I’m a news/online writer and photographer for our campus newspaper. I took newspaper courses in high school, gaining writing, photography and editing experience. I’ve freelanced with The Commercial Appeal and will do so again this summer.

I plan on attending graduate school and hope to work with a newspaper or magazine, possibly focusing on non-profit and pro-life agencies.

As a Christian, I’m called to seek truth and share it with the world. I can think of no better profession for doing so than journalism.

See, just a glimpse...I guess I just want people to know more about me than just a blurb of 100 words. I thought about making it a string of random thoughts...like so:

I'm on a first name basis with several of the AT&T hotline phone technicians because I've been through six or seven cell phones in two years. (Honestly, I take really good care of them, but they just stop working!) I've been in the PCA since I was six. I've never been on a roller coaster - just the thought of riding one scares me. I've lived in Memphis all my life and have never been to Graceland, but I've visited Graceland Too in Holly Springs, Miss. at least four times! I have a Mac and I'm never going back. I have arthritis and can't find my wrist brace at the moment...really hoping it's still packed in one of my boxes from moving back home from college. I have a learning disability that is frustrating but has taught and forced me to work hard in many aspects of life, especially school. I'm incredibly afraid of heights. I wouldn't dive into water or light a match until I was about 11. (Not sure exactly why. I guess I was scared?) I don't mind if you ask me questions about being adopted; in fact, I love telling people! I'm named after my great grandmother, and yes, if you forget my name, I'll answer to Audra, Aubrey, Audrey, Auburn, even Anna, but I would love it if you could remember my name. I think beautiful buildings, especially old churches, are wonderful. Probably 70 percent of my wardrobe is blue. I use guy's deodorant because it works better. I can't memorize to save my life. My jaw is completely out of alignment and I have TMJ, but I still love smiling, even though it's very crooked. I love my Trinity Hymnal. You'll be my new best friend if you can make me laugh. I have the most incredible family and home church in the world. I love going to a huge SEC school and I don't feel like I'm simply a number at a school of 16,000 (-ish) students. I love being from the South. Yes, my hair is naturally that curly and no, I've never colored it. Instead of reading me bedtime stories or singing to me, my daddy read my the children's catechism at night before bed (starting the day I came home for the first time!). I have Raynaud's, so it's okay/normal when my fingers and toes turn death blue or blood red. I'm incredibly allergic to MSG. I think it's really sad that Russians don't have/don't eat peanut butter. I'm a major night owl and can function for days with no sleep.

Okay, that's definitely enough and way more than anyone wants to read. Someone else needs to give bio writing a try while I keep reading my books and writing my other essays!

P.S. Got to attend a Derek Webb/Sandra McCracken concert in Memphis last night at Otherlands. They're incredible. If you're looking for new music, check them out.

I want to do anything but study

2008-04-21T17:34:00.005-05:00

I realize this isn't a "thoughtful" post, but it will be awhile before I can sit down for some time to really think about things going on...

I'm nearing the end of my semester. It's crazy that I'm almost finished with my sophomore year. I still remember being the confused, lost freshman on a campus with countless buildings and a study body of around 16,000. Where has the time gone? Have I used it wisely? What do I have to show for my two years here? Where have I invested myself and do I need to continue those investments for my remaining two years? Where have I spent my time to further the Kingdom? What investments have helped me grow in my walk with the Lord? What investments have I made to serve others and make a difference in their lives?

I keep telling everyone that I can't wait for summer and honestly, I'm really excited about it: family, New York, freelancing, maybe a new job, home church, reuniting with best friends, reading for enjoyment and not for school, being back in a big city. Despite all these things, it hit me last week how much I'm going to miss the things at school: all my incredible friends, RUF, the wonderful girls in community group, core group, random walks around campus, late night "exploration expeditions" of campus, staying up ridiculously late for various reasons, meeting new people, music team, 525, being able to walk almost anywhere that I need to go. I felt the same "torn" feeling going in to last summer, but I was really almost too busy at home last summer to think about feeling torn between the two places.

Anyway, moving on to this week. Maybe posting all this will help me get my thoughts together and relieve some stress of having it all in my head?

Today: Missed first class because I overslept. I think this is the first time that's ever happened. Met with a professor for help with one of the 10-page papers. Now on to writing newspaper interview questions, calling sources, setting up interviews; studying for cumulative AP Style test and current events quiz (last one of the year!); start Latin word list/final; work on two 10-page papers

Tuesday: The test and quiz; meet with a professor to get double major dropped to a single major (hooray!); continue with article, Latin, and papers

Wednesday: Latin quiz; college's cookout (serving); RUF banquet for the seniors (serving); studying like mad for an exam the next day

Thursday: 19th Century British Novels final exam; continue working on papers and Latin; study for Mass Media test; meet with a professor about the first paper; meet with the Writing Center to have a tutor examine said paper; RUF luau party/Suicidal Margarine farewell concert (I'm sad to think that I'll probably be missing that last event for the second year in a row)

Friday: One paper due; Mass Media test; Latin list/exam due; run a friend around town; keep writing my last paper of the semester

This week is going to be difficult, but so will everyone else's (probably?), and hey, it's life. (And all this makes exam week look a LOT better.) And as several sweet friends have reminded me, God is always faithful to give me the strength to complete everything that He has called me to do (even if it means not sleeping for a few nights).

God is good!

2008-03-26T18:05:00.004-05:00

Got my approval for a freelance contract this summer that will enable to get my classroom fee waived for summer journalism school (assuming I get in)---thank you, Jesus!

Also received confirmation/peace/direction about changing one of my majors to a minor last night. Wow, what an incredible feeling of relief! I'm sticking with a Journalism major and an English minor...I'll hopefully go next week to figure out how that changes my courses for the next two years.

Just wanted to share that good news! :) God is good!