Reflection - Extra Credit

While brainstorming for my final project I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I thought I could do what had been done before in a fresh and new way but I was wrong. Everything I wrote was everything that had already been written. Seeing as how I’ve based many major decisions on a long term goal of owning my own magazine one day with the main intent of assuring young girls of their own beauty, realizing that my idea for this final project was boring I’ve reassessed many future dreams.
While being in this class and especially while working on the final project I’ve realized that I really enjoy writing, writing but not reporting news. I like flowery language, analogies, deeper meanings. When I write I hate following formats. Rules bother me. I find the inverted pyramid and AP stylebook frustrating. If I want to write 5 or five I don’t think it should be a big deal.
As I was reflecting on this class I also realized that everything I imagined doing for my magazine involved working with kids on a one on one basis outside of the magazine. But the reality of life is that if I were an editor my entire life would be consumed by my work. There would be no time to pursue the heart of my project.
I am now seriously considering switching to a minor in journalism and focusing more strongly on careers that would let me work more closely with youth..
One final note, as I’m already over word count, this class also taught me how to take constructive criticism. Before when I wrote I didn’t allow anyone to read my work and I certainly did not appreciate any comments. After being in this class I’ve realized that sometimes people can see things you can’t and you should appreciate anything that would make your work better.
Thanks for everything you’ve done for me this semester. I really appreciate all the time and effort you’ve put into my education. You have been so understanding and I am sincerely very grateful.

Topical Blog Post #4

It’s Christmas time and that means decorations, presents under the tree, homemade goodies, ice skating in the city, cold winds and warm fires but in my house it also means one more thing: cheesy Christmas movies on TV. And thanks to the invention of Tivo and such channels such as ABC Family, Lifetime and Hallmark, we have enough taped to fill every second of the season with heart warming, made for TV moments.
I make fun of them, grumble and roll my eyes every time I walk into the living room but the truth is (and you have to promise to keep this a secret from my mom) I actually like the cheesiness. And to be completely honest, every once in a while some of the movies take the typical plot line and surprise you with a pretty good story.
That being said I watched one of these ‘gems in the rough’ yesterday about a little boy who thought it was pointless to wish for something as big as a toy train under the Christmas tree. The wise reply he received after sharing his woes film was this: “if you don’t have dreams they can’t come true.”
I don’t know why but that one sentence keeps playing through my mind as if my brain and not just my TV were Tivod. Play. Rewind. Play. Rewind.
And the more the phrase runs through my mind the more I wonder about the dreams we stop believing in, trains we put out of our mind: a job, a spouse, a family, a business, finally seeing the world, whatever it may be, because it would be too disappointing not to see them under the tree.
The point, I suppose, is this: in the spirit of Christmas and in hope of a better year than last, dream again. You should know the little boy in the movie got his train. And although I know that life doesn’t have quite so many happy endings as Hallmark movies sometimes good things do happen to those who believe.