Saturday, October 31, 2009

Fieldtrip

The sun was out, and a light breeze blew, but no for long. Soon the group of ten students and one adviser were on the road. The drive was long. The smace was limited. But aproximately eleven hours later we all arived safely in Austin, Texas for the National College Journalism Convention.

Thursday and Friday we were required to attend five session. Saturday we only had to attend three. But the nights were ours for the taking. What kind of trouble could we get into?

Thursday a few of us went out and took pictures for an hour or two during the day. Later we had dinner. Some students went to the local clubs. Phrases like "Keep Austin Weird," and "Live Music Capitol" are all over the place. Other's of us came back to the hotel and enjoyed a quiet (or not so quiet) evening of homework.

The rooms do not have free internet. That makes so much sense! Anyone can walk in off the street and get free internet in the lobby. But if you are a paying guest at the hotel who wants to use the internet from the comfort of your own room, where it is not loud, you have to pay. But it is all good.

Friday we went to the state capitol building. It is about eight or ten blocks from the Hilton where we stayed. We went inside and looked around. We took pictures in and out. Some of the more interesting things were after leaving the capitol.

We were able to take pictures of people. Outside the building three people held signs for passing motorists to read. They dealt with global warming to the war. We passed at least four people who were wearing costumes. Did I miss that memo?

The sessions have been informative. Probably my most informative, but not boring session was on interviewing. I know that it is an area where I need to improve. I want to become a better interviewer.

All in all this has been a very educational and fun experience. I am glad I came. Most departments offer some kind of field trip at some time. If you are given the opportunity to go on one, take it. You learn so much more with the 'hands on' experiences than you do in the classroom.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Crowley's Ridge Regional Library

There is just so much happening that it is hard to decide what to write about. I guess I will write a little about today though.

Right now I am at the Crowley's Ridge Regional Library. You may wonder why I would be here when there is a large library right on campus. Well, it is just one of those days that I haven't been doing what always makes the most sense.

Actually, I went to the bank in downtown Jonesboro to deposit a check. I was on my way back to campus, heading towards the library and realized I had a small umbrella, a bag with my laptop, and would have a long walk from the parking spot to the library. Not a good combination.

Then I thought of places in Jonesboro I could go to study, and not have to risk frying my laptop. Then this place hit me. My freshman year I tried to get a library card. I had a copy of the form I filled out with teh Post Office for my box, my license and all, but it wasn't enough. I could not get a card. This time I had a piece of mail with me because I had gone to the bank.

I came in and was able to get a library card and then sit down and study. I have not done a lot of exploring or anything but what I have found so far is nice. They have tables scattered through the library, and even some chairs that look comfortable. It isn't the quietest environment, but thats OK. It isn't what I was looking for anyway. They obviously have wireless. Thinks in Jonseboro have been growing on me and I am beginning to feel more and more at home in Jonesboro. I really do like it here.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Scattered like College

This post is going to be a little scattered. I want to cover multiple things that are unrelated. But I guess that is a lot like life too. You never know what is going to happen or how.

The sun is out again so that is great! ASU does not have a bus system that serves just the campus or that runs regularly. There are busses that stop every hour, but they also go all over the city.

I am working hard on getting my portfolio ready. That is a lot of work, especially since I do not have much time to prepare it. I have until tomorrow. I need to put it on disk, and I also want to host it on my "Mysite" page. Tomorrow is the job fair and I want to drop off my resume and a disk. But then there is a ton of other homework too. I have to fight the library hours in order to try and get everything done- I don't have a scanner in my dorm room.

On Tuesday nights I go to a bible study. I started going the second semester of my freshman year. It was formed by a group of friends and they went out witnessing to students on campus. One day one came up to me in the cafeteria and talked to me. They invited me to the group and I regularly attend now. We have not had any outreach projects yet this semester but we hope to soon. But for the past week we have been doing a 10% challenge. What that means is we are trying to give 10% of our week, or day to God for his time. We want that to be our best time, not just our leftover time. It has been going great.

The common theme over the past week for me has pretty much been how large God is. "God is bigger than
The air I breathe," one song's lyrics go. It is so true. He is so big my mind cannot even comprehend how big he is. He is bigger than me, this state, this country...this universe. So often I try to compartmentalize my life and only bring him out when it is convenient. But God is bigger than that, he can't be stuffed in a little box. Why am I trying? He should overcome in all parts of my life: school, work, free-time... Everything.

Also it stood out just how young the apostles were and the boldness. In Acts it describes Peter and another in front of the Sanhedrin. It describes them as being uneducated. They learned as they went with Christ, and look at what they did. Then Stephen gave a long spill, knowing there would be consequences, to the Sanhedrin. It resulted in his stoning, as he knew it likely would, yet he still spoke boldly and proclaimed the truth.

This weekend I was given the awesome opportunity to help my friends who are youth ministers at a local Methodist Church, along with other volunteers, do 30 hour famine with the youth. It was an amazing experience. I can't speak for what others were feeling, but from what I observed it was a great experience for everyone. We kicked it off by eating breakfast early Saturday morning. Then no more food. We participated in three main events on Saturday: Can collection for the Salvation Army in Jonesboro, a car smash to raise money for WorldVision, and "Bigger and Better" where we traded a quarter for an item then went to another home and tried to trade whatever we got for something bigger and better. That item would then be sold and the money would go to WorldVision as well. Saturday night during Worship some of the kids were in a bad mood, but a few hours later things looked better.

Sunday morning some of the kids had forgotten about being hungry until the leader asked if they were or not. The youth led worship and shared about the experience. At 11 everyone held signs to help raise awareness, and later came back to the church for another worship service and to break the fast with communion.

For me, I can honestly say that it was ALL God. After 13 hours without food I usually feel like throwing up. I never got that feeling this weekend. I did not really get hungry until Sunday morning, but even that subsided. God gave me strength to do the activities and everything without hunger ever being an issue.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Hello Sun!

Today is a nice day, especialy comparing it to other days in the recent past. There has been a break in the rain, and the temperature is perfect, even on the warm side. I am out of class for another half-hour, then I have one more class for the day.

Mondays are a very awkward day this semester. Of course, with this semester's schedule, most of the week is awkward. But on Mondays it is just annoying. From 8-9 I have a class, then frmo 11-12 I have a class, then another at 2-3. At 5 I have a staff meeting for The Herald. Then dinner around 6:30. I usually leave my room around 7:30 and don't return until around 8:30 that night.

Today won't be any different. But at least it is sunny. I actually dragged myself out of the cafeteria today to work on some homework. I came to a nice area on the south side of campus, between the engineering/lab sciences building, the library, the communications/education building and the art annex. There are some stairs surrounded by small walls where students can sleep. The real creative student might lay on one of the diaganol walls and take a nap.

The squirrels run up and down the nearby trees, and dart down sidewalks as students travel to and from classes and academic buildings. The noise from leaf-blowers echos across the campus, and random chatter can be heard from students walking by. The occasional ASU truck will drive by, and friends stop by to say hello. It may not be the most quiet place to study, but it is just nice to sit outside on such a day as this.

There is an occasional cool breeze that blows, but its not too windy. Plus, most of my work is on the laptop, though it is obvious I am procrastinating right now by posting this blog entry. I should probably start packing up and head inside the communication building now to prepare for my feature writing class.

Enjoy the nice weather!

Monday, October 5, 2009

The History of ASU

I just finished making some edits to a feature story I had to write for one of my classes. It is a historical feature on the Library. It took quite a bit of work in order to write the feature. I spent several hours in Archives, though at least an hour of that time was unnecessary, researching history.

One of the books that I came across was Voices from State: An Oral History of Arkansas State University written by Larry D. Ball and William M. Clements, both who work(ed) at ASU. I found myself engrossed in the book. All I needed to know was the history of the library. That is what I looked for while I was in the archives.

When I left, they informed me the book was available in the general collection. So from the Archives I proceeded to the fourth floor to find the book. Sure enough, I found it along with another book I had previously checked out. I grabbed it and headed to the circulation desk, and then to the cafeteria to have breakfast with my friends.

It turns out I was more interested in the book than them. I sat down with about five of my friends and ate my food. We normally sit in the cafeteria and talk for at least an hour during our meals. This time when I finished my meal, I pulled out the book. I spent the next 45 minutes reading instead of talking. I ignored them the entire meal.

I was captivated by the history. The majority of the book was written in quote format. The authors said a little bit about a topic and then would tell the rest with quotes from students, faculty, and staff.

Most students hear about the fire that destroyed the administration building. But did you know several buildings were severely damaged or destroyed in a tornado during the '60s? Did you know that there used to be an airplane hangar on campus? There was a ton of information in the book.

I admit, I was unable to read everything in it. Sometime when I have some free time--I can't believe I am saying this about an educational book-- I want to check the book out again and read it. I want to know more about the school I attend.

If you have not read about the history of Arkansas State University, I would definitely recommend those who attend or plan to attend investigate that history. It is entertaining and educational.

The history of Wilson is a good place to start.

Mobile Blogging Test

This is a test of mobile blogging. I may make short updates as things happen.


This is a computer update on the post which I may frequently do.

New Focus

I have decided to try and start blogging about Life at Arkansas State University. I will try to update the blog at least once a week with something interesting or entertaining that I have heard about or experienced. This will not be the first post for this week if I can help it. Maybe later I will write about this past weekend or something. Check back and see!