After two months of being in school, I've finally adapted to the fast pace of college life once again. I actually had the time to develop my blog in a timely manner and I was able to blog about other things besides news writing.
I was very timely with my homework and readings, which showed a lot of coverage. I had to redo workbook exercises about writing crime stories. I followed the direction in the book (the book said write a story, they didn't specify that it was a news story-- in the previous exercises they did). I read the section in the AP Style book about 'Briefing the Media.' It talked about slander and rights. I read It ain't necessarily so (IANS) (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10). It was about statistics, so it was repetitve and a bit dry. I thought that it was effective until it became too redundant (and also when Chris U. noted in class one day about the tactic the authors used to convince the audience. This tactic is when examples are used over and over again to instill/imbed to people's mind the point).
Because of good time management, I was able to blog more in depth. Ch 11 in AP Guide to News Writing, I learned many tips about writing good features. Ch 9 and 10 talked about colors and cliches (how to avoid them in features and or reporting). I did my informal presentation on Chapter 5 of IANS. The main focus of my presentation was about reading statistics from both sides.
This time around I was able to blog more about other things (xenoblogging). I blogged about the things I'm learning/covering in world literature. We watched Princess Mononoke, a very entertaining and culturally unique art work. One of the joys in reading about other cultures is traveling vicariously to exotic places. The world is bigger than your backyard. The issues we're covering reminded me of issues that Philippines and other countries in the east are facing (this acts as a check in my part, to keep things in perspective, see the big picture of life).
I used humour in other blog postings I did with the liberty I gained from good time management. These humorous pieces encouraged a lot of discussions with my classmates and teachers. I did a Morgan-spulock fry expirement, commented on 'ethnic' fast food restaurant in Greensburg, and citiqued an advertisement.
Most importantly, I had plenty of time for reflection: reflect on my academic life and career. I'm a Creative Writing [and for now a Literature (but may change]) Major with minors in Journalism, Art History and Fine Arts and in the Honors Program. By the end of this semester, I would finish my journalism and fine arts minors and if everything goes well I would finish my art history minor and the honors program by the end of fall 2006. I think I'm improving on my presentation, my recent presentaion in news writing class was successfull. Amanda (her lecture) exposed to me the application of journalism in the working world. The competitiveness of it was discouraging for me but the experience shared with other people, I found invaluable. I'm really looking forward to doing my honors capstone project this summer. It will be both a learning and fun experience. It's a great bargain, I get to see my family, go to the Philippines and do something in the creative writing field.
Overall, this blogging experience has been charming!
Posted by Michael Diezmos at November 9, 2005 9:56 AM