Sunset

Sunset

I wonder why when you say goodbye
beautiful colours paint the sky.
Shades of orange, yellow and pink too
all come out because of you.
And although I hate to see you go,
I really do enjoy the show.
I've seen you leave so many times
and still it's a favourite sight of mine.
There'll be no sadness, be no sorrow
because my sun, you'll come out tomorrow.
I won't feel hurt, I'll feel no pain
because on your way down, your colours will reign. 

- Adoni Marcano

Book Club?

“If daily reading begins in infancy, by the time the child is 5 years old, he or she has been fed roughly 900 hours of  brain food! Reduce that experience to just 30 minutes a week, and the child’s hungry mind loses 770 hours of nursery rhymes, fairy tales and stories. A kindergarten student who has not been read to could enter school with less than 60 hours of literacy nutrition. No teacher, no matter how talented, can make up for those lost hours of mental nourishment.” (USDOE, 1999)

Have you ever heard the phrase “if you don’t use it you’ll loose it”? So if you do not use your skills, like reading. You may not loose your ability to read, but may struggle with higher literacy. Think about the brain food quote. If this is proven true think of all the educational hours we have lost. In CliffNotes I brought up the statistic that 25% of Americans will not read a single book in a year. After some thought on the matter I have decided I would personally like to change this.

As of today I am setting myself a personal goal to read as many books as I can by the end of the year. (20+) However, I do not only want to read the books, but I also want to find ways to interact with them. For example in high school I had found a few authors my friends and I really liked and we would take turns reading the books. One book I remember reading is The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. While reading we would jot down our thoughts as side notes, and then pass the book on to a friend to read and add their thoughts. Finally after the book made it around the circle I would go back and reread the book. This was such a great experience, because every time reading was like reading a whole different book.

With all the hype over The Hunger Games movie what better book to start with then The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. What a great opportunity to read the book then watch the movie and be able to compare the two. My second book I would like to read is The Rum Diaries by Hunter S. Thompson. I have seen the movie and can not wait to read the book. Hunter S. Thomson is my journalist/writer hero and I would like to eventually read all of his works including: Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, and Where the Buffalo Roam. I would also like to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower again to see how my thoughts have changed over the years. Those are only a few and I have a lot of catching up to do on my reading. So if anyone has any ideas for books I MUST read please let me know.

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Shtaintclear

Am I a great writer? No, in no means am I anywhere near being a perfect writer. However, I do pride myself with having common sense, and being a pretty “darn good” typographer. (Typography, in print journalism, is the detail of layout of the newspaper, magazine, flier, exedra; that is the key to what makes the text appealing to the eyes.) So yes, I do know a little something on what is news worthy and appropriate. That is why sometimes when I am reading smaller papers I really would like to call up the editor and ask “WHAT!?!”.

If you have attended Jacksonville State University then you have surely heard or read the notorious Chanticleer. In the latest publication there was a lengthy opinion article on Rick Santorum. After reading this article this defiantly made me say out loud, WHAT!? But, before I go into the errors of the article itself, let me just touch on this page. First, the filler the paper uses are atrocious. Second and the font in a paper is ALWAYS justified. Third, this slandered article should have never had a full page. However, all of my newsy pet peeves aside lets move on to the article.

How many times have you written an essay and said “I am writing this essay about...” or “This essay is about…”, only to have your essay returned inked to death. Well this article starts out just that way. I quote, “I am so blessed to have the opportunity to write a political opinion article,” which translates to “I am writing an opinion article about…”.  I do not believe this line should have ever made it to the final cut. Later on in the piece the writer also mistakenly says, “Now with that quote in mind,” but never addressed a quote, only his thoughts on what NPR (National Public Radio) had to say on the matter. There were several other “no no’s” in the article, but the one that stood out to me the most was in the last paragraph. “…a cheating, selfish, b----, who wants to colonize the moon.” WOW, when did the writer ever feel it was appropriate to use the word bitch (even though the last four letters where blanked out) in a new article! Internet, okay but this is like turning on abc 33/40 and James Spann saying “you is a dumb bitch if you don’t take cover now”. Even if you are writing for a college newspaper using profanity is never okay.

However, do not get me wrong I am not for Rick Santorum nor do I believe any of the “santorum” spewing out of this mans mouth. I am just frustrated as a journalist and writer at the nonsense and errors that actually get published in Newspapers and magazines. I know I do not have the best grammar skills or am the best editor, but my fondest memories were always on Thursday’s when my old advisor would bring in a few big named papers and we would spend the class period giving it the red ink of death. Maybe this is why little things in articles irk me more then others.