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December 1, 2005
Are you convinced?
Upon concluding her well-delivered presentation in class on Monday, Elyse asked us this very important question: Did We the Media persuade you to make a change? Then Dr. Jerz, realizing the value of this question, asked us a similar question about the course as a whole. Here are some of my thougts.
First and formost, I am in college to learn. I am not here to just take classes about subjects I like or that interest me. To me college is about expanding my horizons, trying new things I have never done before, and learning as much as I can from these new experiences.
I think news writing has been my first big journey on a road I'd never thought I'd travel, and I think I am better because of it. I had to plunge into something utterly unfamiliar to me, and I know that shying away from things just because they are unfamiliar is no way to go. Yes, it can be scary, yes, it can be frustrating at times, but if you stick with it to the end (and try to keep a positive attitude along the way) you will be better off. It is our experiences and our reactions to those experiences that make us who we are, and if you never force yourself to struggle through anything, you will never grow as a person. And I plan on growing as much during my life as I possibly can. EL227 was just the beginning.
Now that the struggle is coming to a close, I still strongly dislike practicing journalism,but I will, in fact miss the class. So many people, even ones who have recently revealed that they actually don't really like journalism all that much (you all had me fooled by the way), expressed an enthusiasm during class that I enjoyed immensely. And I still learned many skills that will help me improve my writing overall, and many more that will help me in ways that I would never have imagined.
So, in conclusion, I must say that I am not by any means persuaded to become a journalist in the formal sense. But, I have been persuaded to think more like a journalist and act more as a journalist in situations where it might be useful. I think of this class as a way of giving me another set of eyes with which I can se the world. A new, and certainly useful, perspective on the ways things are. And in my eyes, one can never see things from too many different view points.
Posted by LorinSchumacher at December 1, 2005 9:52 PM
Comments
Wow, that's deep! Lorin, I can't even begin to describe how much I agree. As a freshman, I share many of the same emotions as you about this first semester.
Your attitude and outlook of seeing your newswriting journey, not much less, your life, as a challenge, has gripped my attention and opened up my eyes. Let me just say from experience that this trait, the ability to see things as challenges and not obstacles, is one that you should never lose.
I have one word for you... perseverance. I think that as freshman, we all are faced with challenges such as this newswriting class. However, it is at this point, this very moment that we as students, turn into learners. Our character and identity is formed directly from the way we choose to see these challenging situations. At that instance, we have a choice, either we buckle down and get through it, or we take the easy way out and drop. There is a saying that I feel really puts one's attitude into perspective: "what doesn't kill us, makes us stronger."
We can finally say that we've gone down this hard road, we've made some wrong turns but we can see the end of the tunnel. As you so simply stated Lorin, we've been given a new pair of eyes. We are able to take what we've learned and apply it to what we already know. If we as learners keep doing this, day after day, year after year, then we are not letting down the people in front of us who've made these same mistakes. We must never let the knowledge passed to us from others die. People in front of us have paid a price of learning and passed it on to us. I take this opportunity to challenge everyone who reads this, to, no matter where your life takes you, never let the book of learning end with you. Learn from others, add your own chapter, and pass it on to others in the future.
Posted by: Andy LoNigro at December 1, 2005 11:29 PM
I didn't have a shred of this kind of self-awareness and active learning sttitude when I was an undergrad. I was certainly inspired by my professors, and by working on the student paper and wondering whether one day I'd be the author of a book on a library shelf. But then I chose to go to a huge state school, not a small one where community and personal interactions are so important. I'm learning a lot from you guys, too.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at December 2, 2005 12:32 AM