“I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules if, behind them, they didn't have a little bit of plain, ordinary, everyday kindness and a little looking out for the other fella, too.”
-Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

On Friday I went to Lexington with Sarah Bloom (Such a lovely person) to the scene of a fire that occurred at the town's oldest and beloved restaurants, The Southern Inn. It opened in 1799 and has become a major landmark in the town, making its demise that much more upsetting.
As we came to the scene we were permitted by the fire chiefs to look a bit inside so that we could film. We had to be hasty though as the firemen had a job to do and the media doesn't always stem the most pleasant feelings from people called to their job of duty in a crisis. However, they answered our questions and gave us an interview which was kind of them. As we talked to the owner, whose restaurant had been in his family from the start, I couldn't help but feel utter remorse as he choked up a little during his interview. To have a steady landmark in your life that has been the threshold of one's family and history taken away from you, must be emotionally vacating. But cheers to good news, as the owner does plan to re-open the Inn someday and believes the structural damage isn't beyond repair.
It is these stories when I am confronted with the importance of striking a balance between being a human being and following a journalistic duty. In my media ethics class I just finished, this theory is known as Aristotle's Golden Mean. The belief of striking a mean between two extremes. I just don't believe that one can be a successful or savvy journalistic without empathy and a touch of human kindness when covering stories and especially hard news.
On the way back from Lexington we jammed in the car to oldie classics as we made our way down from the winding roads of the mountains. Man I don't want summer to ever end.

Me and one of the reporters Lauren, who I mostly worked with during the summer. She is a true inspiration to me!

So one day when I was working with Lauren she allowed me to be the reporter for this story:

http://www.wset.com/global/category.asp?c=189690&clipId=4990034&autostart=true

Haha you can see my microphone in it, I was so nervous.

Listen

Latest obsessions

Listen to this

and this

Walter Burns: What were you when you came here five years ago - a little college girl from a school of journalism. I took a doll-faced hick...
Hildy Johnson: Well, you wouldn't take me if I hadn't been doll-faced.
Walter Burns: Well, why should I? I thought it would be a novelty to have a face around here a man could look at without shuddering.

This summer I've been interning at the television news affiliate, ABC 13 in Lynchburg. I decided to do this internship in hopes of learning more about the news business from the television realm and if its still something I want to do. So far, I can say that I truly love it, and now know more than ever that I want to be a news reporter. I was reluctant at first about whether this would be a career I wanted/could do. I couldn't seem to place myself in the same categories of other reporters, who go out in the field everyday with an aggression and intensity that I felt that I lacked. I have never been one to be very aggressive, mostly because of the negative connotations that go along with that characteristic, those being pushy, annoying, and self serving. However, since interning I've realized that aggression, in the right context, can be a very positive thing. To attain aggression towards something requires passion, and with that passion it can lead you to uncover corruption for the greater good or making one's mission to bring the world facts and news. Of course aggression to an extent. I above all will always be humane first and a journalist second. I do believe there is a mean that can be struck on the journalist spectrum between duty and human.

L.O.V.E.

"Our soul mate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of
direction. When we're two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we've found the right person."

People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants.

But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything

that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so

you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important

person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake.

-Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

"Just one thing,” she says, raising her head and looking me straight in the eye. “I want you to remember me. If you remember me, then I don’t care if everyone else forgets."

The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.
-- Audrey Hepburn

“Alas, poor Romeo, we can't do diddly.
You'll go to penitentiary,
I'll be the laughing stock
of the Brownies.
But if your feelings for me are true,
you'll wait.”
-Beautiful girls

V-J Day in Times Square

On Sunday, June 20, the nurse in this infamous picture, Edith Shain died at 91. She has been remembered all throughout her life as being part of one of America's most iconic photos taken on V-J Day in Times Square; as the nurse kissed by the patriotic sailor. The photographer, Alfred Eisenstadt who has captured some of the greats like Marilyn Monroe, or the infamous "Migrant Mother" featured in Life magazine, said he was drawn to her and the sailor through the complimenting contrasting colors and the sweet and passionate nature of the two that summed of the true essence of patriotism that day. Lovely.

"You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say,'why not?' -Bernard Shaw

"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find Yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and your discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be."
-- Patanjali

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy,

the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.- C.S. Lewis

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the
world needs is people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

Paul Rusesabagina and Hotel Rwanda

I had the opportunity to attend an event in Blackwell, on Feb. 24, to hear Paul Rusesabagina speak. Rusesabagina is the actual hero who saved thousands of lives in 1993 in Rwanda, Africa during the tension war between the Hutus and Tutsis. The film, Hotel Rwanda is based on his incredible journey from being the acting manager of the Hôtel des Mille Collines in Kigali, Rwanda's capital to becoming Africa's most incredible heroes. The movie, often referred to as the African Schindler's List, was nominated for three Academy Awards and still inspires people today. Here's the trailer to Hotel Rwanda if you haven't already seen it. I strongly encourage that you do!





Rusesabagina spoke to us about "believing in the power of words" and not relying on the power of weapons, his beliefs being quite parallel to those of Dr. King's. His incredulous story began with merely being a hotel manager and trying to protect his family during the African genocide where the war between the Hutus (The educated class who dominated most of the Rwandan government) and the Tutsis (who were Africa's lower class: similar to the feudal system during the middle ages of the surfs and peasants). This genocide cost over 1 million people's lives. As Rusesabagina was working to save him and his family's lives, friends and neighbors began taking refuge in initially his home and as the refugees grew, he moved them into the famous Hotel Rwanda.





Click here to this site. It’s a wonderful site that uses photographs as a way of documenting depraved times all around the world. This one is a piece on the Rwandan Genocide aftermath.


The first day that Rusesabagina started helping others was an unplanned, heroic act that started with housing over 34 people in his home and was as he says, “the scariest day of my life.” Rusesabagina was nearly killed for helping to save these lives and explains his experiences as going “face to face with evil.” By confronting killers with a combination of diplomacy, stealth, and flattery, Rusesabagina managed to shelter more than a thousand Hutus and Tutsis in his hotel. It was this act that led him to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. Through his experiences in the genocide, Rusesabagina told me that his purpose now is “to be an advocate of dialogue.”



He is what I like to define as a real hero. An average person given an unexpected mission to take on extraordinary measures to save lives and initially make a difference in the world. I had the opportunity to talk to him after he spoke. It was an unreal experience being able to speak with him. Being able to be face-to-face with someone who embodies all the definitions of a hero was an honor! I found Mr. Rusesabagina gentle, kind and attentive. I didn't feel slighted over with him, he seemed thoroughly interested and engaged by my questions and answered them generously. He told me in his lovely African accent about the problems in the Great Lakes of Africa and his mission to change the problems that are currently happening that no one talks about. To break it down, this is what is happening:

The Great Lakes are in control of a dictatorship type of government that takes away all the money that is sent from America, mainly DC, to the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes as a result, is in a state of poverty and the people there start rebellions that as a result, are killing many of the people there. Rusesabagina told me that writing letters to our U.S. president asking to stop this dictatorship type of government, and taking away the money that is sent over for the growth of the Great Lakes is something that we can do to help. His wishes for the students at Longwood are to “advocate for equal justice and right in the Great Lakes of Africa.” His opinion of the Longwood student body was described as being “an excellent group of young people” and having the “eagerness to become involved to save the world.” Why thank you sir.


Tutsis Boys

I decided to be a little bold and asked him how he defined success. I couldn’t resist the urge asking someone of his “celebrity status” how he saw and defined success in his eyes. Rusesabagina was confused at first by my questioning and didn’t understand why I would ask a question like that to him. I quickly replied that I was merely interested in hearing a definition of success come from someone whose heroic background inspired millions of people and that for my article, it would be interesting for us students to know. After he came to terms to with my objective for the article, he gave me a completely humbled response and I quickly discovered that he was completely unfocused and unaware of having any type of “celebrity status.” He told me that “everything I do, I do it fully and never half-way.”


His mentality and seemingly unaffected ego rich with modesty seemed almost unreal to me. His mind is continually focused on the current issues in the Great Lakes and the passion he has for his people from what I observed, is anything but half-way.
When I spoke to Dr. Tim Pierson, the Vice President of Student Affairs, his viewpoint on the event mirrored that of my own: “Fantastic. He is a reminder to us to not be complacent. He embodies the true ideals of being a citizen leader.” We aren’t the only ones to share this opinion. Click here.




This whole problem in the Great Lakes makes me re-evaluate all my priorities and makes me feel miserable and confused on how innocent people are being killed and stripped away their freedom based on their birth right. It's so unfair to me that I go home to a nice home with a loving family and things like poverty, no freedom, and high risks of death are all foreign. I don't like hearing about all of this. I want to go over there and do something to help, not hear about it. I have decided to do my part in helping the Great Lakes by helping to contribute to Rusesabagina’s Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation. Right now I’m contemplating a fundraiser or a petition to help fight the dictatorship and corruption in the country. You can do your part too! Just visit the site and there are a handful of great ideas to help get you started.


-“I said, 'I'm not coming with you, because so far I'm the only person who can negotiate with the killers,”- Paul Rusesabagina

(To read the original published article go here)