Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

Andrew Brown; loved hunting and learning about history, passed away February 3, 2013 at age 18 after a life dealing with Duchene Muscular Dystrophy. Jesse Hourigan; described by Autumn Beltinck as having “a heart as big as his smile”, passed away March 6, 2013  at age 18 after an 18 month battle with Leukemia. Jackson Gangwer; a little athlete, played football, basketball and baseball, passed away April 10, 2013 at age 12 because of a gun accident.

While I did not personally know any of these boys, they have all touched my life and the lives of the people at Fenton High School.

Students nneeded to understand that feeling grieving was normal, that they had to express how they felt in a healthy way and that process would be different for everyone.
 

Surprisingly, teachers and counselors made little effort to help the students understand what had happened and how to deal with what they were feeling. My theory was the teachers and counselors did not know themselves how to cope properly.

Turning to a professional was my only option. I called clinical psychologist Steven Craig to ask questions for my article and hoped he could shed some light onto my various questions.

What are the proper coping skills to employ in times of stress and sorrow and why do people feel like a failure going to see a therapist?

Witnessing the devastation of these three brutally real events, I realized just how poorly equipped children and teenagers are to deal with tragedies.

No one at school knew that it was okay to cry and be sad and to talk about feelings. Most people were shocked for a few days, walking the halls with dazed faces and red puffy eyes. But after awhile the only indication anything had changed could be found deep inside the grieving heart.

Being a writer, I wrote my feelings. Tears turned into words, poems and articles.

At the time of Jackson’s passing, I decided to write a story for my high school newspaper about coping skills.

“The best methods of coping are crying or talking,” clinical psychologist Steven Craig said. “Many people feel uncomfortable talking to a therapist; they see it as a sign of weakness. That is not true. Therapy is a coping skills class.”

If coping skills were as easy as expressing emotion, why was it so difficult to accomplish? The answer to that question still eludes me and probably always will.

It’s disheartening to think about and see people struggle so much to understand tragedy and cope in positive ways.

In a perfect world, children would not have to deal with death. In a perfect world, children would never have to grow up. The world is not perfect and growing up is a part of life. If ignorant parents and teachers refuse to teach children coping skills then who will?

Life Happens, Learn To Live With It | Infographics

Joe Hertler, hopefully better with the Rainbow Seekers

Joe Herlter is the bandleader of a self proclaimed “sublime folk tinged with Motown, funk and pop” band. At first glance he gives a whimsically hipster John Mayer impression. On Tuesday, July 31, all MIPA students were encouraged to hear him play a solo concert.

With all the hype about the concert from UpStart on Twitter and all of the talk about the concert in the hallway, I was pleasantly surprised to see I would be able to hear it from the dorm, until he started singing.

What was heard from the window tempted me to close it. Unfortunately the heat overcame the desire to mute the screechy harmonica mixed with poorly written, cliché lyrics.

Granted, the style of music was not one that could be found on my ideal playlist, a repetitive and more obviously novice Mumford and Sons. His songs soon blended together as though it was one unbreakable looped track.

Although not much can be said about Joe Hertler’s style (musical or fashion), he had a real connection with the audience and a great sense of humor that almost made up for his hobo beard.

Joe Hertler’s screechy harmonica playing, hobo beard wearing, folk/ Motown/ funk/ pop concert started late and ended early. More silence sounds good to me.

Anthony Ianni: an Inspiration

Mobile Journalism Seminar Storify

MIPA Worries

Attending camp at a college dorm with a roommate was new to me. Having never been to MIPA Summer Camp, I had no idea what to expect from this experience. Naturally, with all the possibilities running through my mind, I had some pretty hyper-active butterflies in my stomach. How would the food taste? What would the rooms be like? Would the people be nice and friendly? What time would we have to wake up? I’m really not a morning person….Did I remember everything on my packing list? Yikes. My mom added to my list of worries, “Don’t talk to strangers, don’t go anywhere alone, always be in a group of at least four people, don’t get into weird cars, don’t go off campus and whatever you do never turn away from your drink. There are some crazy people out there.” Needless to say, I worry a lot and so does my mom. Every minute of the hour and fifteen minute car ride to the MSU campus was an opportunity for both of our nerves to grow and my excitement to fade. Once at the entrance of the campus I decided to calm down before the chaos of checking in and getting set up began. I started to feel a little better about the four days to come, mostly because it was definitely too late to turn back toward home. Heading down Shaw Lane in the pouring rain, a disgusting orange sign appeared in front of the car. Construction. As if the car ride was not already bad enough, I had to drive around the Michigan State campus for an extra half an hour trying to find Shaw Hall with my mom pointing out all the potential lunatics who could slip something into my lemonade. I very rarely visit any college campus and never realized just how difficult they are to navigate, especially with construction and two neither map nor direction savvy drivers. By the time we had gotten to check-in, I was way too stressed to even think about having any fun. I hoped the rest of my Learn It, Live It, Love It experience would be better than the past two hours. Those butterflies quickly calmed down and let me enjoy my first night in a college dorm.

Click Happy

Computers and multimedia are in, paper and pencil are out. That is a simple fact. All aspects of society are changing at a rapid rate and technology is at the forefront. One major change due to technology has occurred in the way we get our news and the way it is presented.

Flipping through the pages of a newspaper while sipping coffee in the morning and sharing the comics among siblings may be a thing of the past, but a culture shift in society cannot kill the tradition of journalism.

The cold hard computer screen sitting on the desk in the corner can never offer the kind of community a print paper provides. Print is so much more charismatic and charming than any source of online or television news.

“If you have a good story, well told, it doesn’t matter how it is presented,”Jam Sardar, News Director of CBS Lansing said. “The trick is finding the stories. I know a lot of good storytellers, but I really value the story finders.”

With the time available for gathering information and care taken in the writing process of just one story in an issue of print, stories have so much potential to be great. In contrast, for mobile journalism to be successful, a rush to be the first to break the news can make a story impersonal.

While mobile journalism can give the audience a chance to be involved, this opens new doors to risk. Misinformation can be easily spread, inappropriate videos and pictures can ruin reputations and valuable information can be easily lost in the rush to be the first to publish a story. Little can be done to prevent the risks of citizen journalism, especially in the digitized world.

“There is a constant battle between being first than being right with mobile journalism,” Tricia Bobeda, Web Producer of WBEZ 95.1 Fm of Chicago said. “I would rather be right.”

Some may argue this new and more risky digital world of journalism is more economically stable than a printed paper. Ink, paper, delivery, etc all has to be accounted for with a print paper in cost and while the cost is very small for mobile journalism, so is the gain.

“We haven’t found a lot of ways to make money through digital journalism,” Sardar said. “We can make the digital media; the problem is making money with digital media. Digital ads make no profit.”

Both print and mobile forms of journalism have their pros and cons, but local journalism will always be best portrayed with good old fashioned paper. The roots and tradition to all the favorites of pop culture and multimedia will forever live in the local newspaper.

For those who value their daily dose of comics and hotlines, all hope is not lost. Support of the local newspaper is not only easy but also important to its survival in this crazy mixed up world of social media and pop culture.

Digital Journalism | Create infographics