And so it is...just 11 days away! I can nearly taste Graduation Day, my Beloved June 14. But of course that day will be bitter sweet as I will be moving on to higher heights but leaving some great times on Ohio State's campus and some remarkable people, of which I am not certain of when I will see again :-(
But there's always HOPE! and I know I'll run into my fellow Buckeyes someday, some way

Posted by TV_Hope at 5:09 PM | Permalink

Here's to a very very eventful week for the campus starting out with the Spring Football Game on last Saturday. It was my 1st one, and I knew I had to go for my Senior year to see what all the hype was about, but it was a good game (a surprisingly really long one too) where everybody who came got more than their money's worth since the game was free! Ohio State also broke a National scrimmage game attendance record with having over 90,000 fans show up, and that was a major feat out in the heat that day. It was a solid 80 degrees and made me feel as if I was right back home in Hotlanta.

The Spring Game Final score: It's a big Buckeye win either way, Scarlet or Gray!

My friend Whitney and I at the Spring Game

My friends and I went to the South Oval later for the Heritage Festival Kick-off celebration. There were tons of vendor outside, music playing, various groups performing, food on the grill, a moon bounce and a lot of people out in the Mirror Lake area to help kick of the biggest annual cultural festival to hit OSU. For Day 2 of the Heritage Festival, it was the Gospel Fest, which I particpate in each year with the campus Gospel Choir I am in.This year, the program was held outside of the RPAC since the weather was lovely, and the Spirit was there and alive as different Christian acts sang, danced, rapped and worshipped. It was such a nice and open event that people could easily be a part of by simply walking by joining the crowd.

at the Gospel Fest on Sunday

Other events that took place for the Festival week were the Town Hall Forum on Monday and the Poetry Slam on Tuesday. These were also great events that hit on different aspects of the African American culture from addressing issues of "Dark skin versus Light skin" at the Forum, to hearing about an array of deep, poetic topics flowing at the Slam.

Wednesday was another big day since I was performing in the "Soul Time Talent Show" as a back-up singer for my good friend, Whitney. There were two rounds in the show, and we thankfully did really well in the 1st round singing a slow song "Lions, Tigers and Bears" by Jasmine Sullivan, and made it into the 2nd and final round, where we sang an old-school jam from the nineties, "I'm So Into You" by female R&B sensation, SWV.

My friend Whiteny and the great back-up singers outside the Newport Music Hall before showtime.

My friend and fellow background singer, Ayanna

Thursday, turned out to be another big day with the Fashion Show a part of the weeklong celebration. This went right along with the Festival's theme "Uzuri" which means Beauty. Famous contestant on Tyra's Next Top Model, Toccara Jones, was the host of the event, and I got to ask her questions for the Q&A session of the show. It was an overall very colorful and lovely show, especially to be the 1st time the Heritage Fest has put one on.

The Friday night event for the Festival was the "Mahogany Moments" dance which is similar to a Homecoming style dance where you get to dress up, dance and have dinner with your friends.
The final event of the extensive week is the big Step Show, where all the Black Greek organizations come together to put on a great, exciting show feeled with pulsating rhythms and awesome steps.

Here's my sisters and I at the step show during Intermission at Mershon Auditorium

Posted by TV_Hope at 10:58 AM | Permalink

It has really taken me a while to get back in the swing of classes. And you'd think I'd be well used to it with it being my last quarter, but for some reason I'm seem to slowly be getting into the system. I'm not going to diagnose myself with the dreadful disease of Senioritis so I'll just say that I'm a "Graduation focused Senior with little time to think on other things."
My classes have been proceeding well so far but then again it is still too early to properly gauge high academic success the quarter, but then again, I am just taking 2 General Elective courses. I think having my birthday be so early in the quarter really threw me off because instead of focusing on class, I was a planning a big birthday party. While in previous years, it would normally fall on the 2nd week of classes, and I would have some more time.
Plus, as a senior there are soooooooooooooooo many things to focus on from purchasing and sending out Graduation announcements with special Senior photos included in them. Getting a cap & gown and knowing your school's tassel color is another major task along with trying to meet up with all your friends who say they would like to get with you sometime before you graduate. Balancing all that work and post-grad plans, a seniors can easily be drawn anywhere but in a book. Speaking of which, I need to go dig up mine so that I can actaully get a chapter of something read for class this quarter!

Posted by TV_Hope at 4:26 AM | Permalink

And it came to pass, where my dream manifested...I got into the University of Southern California's Graduate school for Broadcast Journalism!!! I had applied right on the deadline (Jan. 2) at like 11:50 that night and sent in my GRE scores, writing clips and recommendations right before Christmas. I wasn't really telling a whole bunch of people about my Grad school plans because then a lot of people start to get nosey and continually ask about all the schools I'd applied to. I recall telling everybody everything when I applied for undergraduate schools, and it got a little embarrassing and disheartening when I had to give people the "I didn't get in" speech for those few schools that rejected me.
So I decided to take my mom's famous advice for revealing info, which is keep things on a need to know basis because people will start to make you eat your words after a while and expect too much. USC has been my number 1 choice since I was little, and when I didn't get that acceptance letter for undergrad, it was tough telling people, especially when put so much esteem in that particular program.
So this time around, I simply applied to schools and didn't really reveal my top school of choice. I applied to 6 of the best broadcast journalism programs: USC, NYU, Columbia, Northwestern, University of Missouri, and Syracuse. I started to hear back from them the first week of March. I was really trying to keep my spirits high and wrote on Post-it notes all across my room "Thank you God for getting me into USC." So lo and behold, during Finals Week as I'm trying to pack for Spring Break and wearing all green in celebration of St. Patrick's Day, I go downstairs to check my mail, the girl at the front desk says I have a package, and I assume it's something from my mom and then I see this big envelope with USC on the side of it, and my heart drops.

THE envelope

Could it be? Am I in? and questions like that run through my mind because I recall the quote my friend Whitney at OSU told me Freshmen year, "A small envelope means rejection while a big envelope means acceptance because who takes the time to send you a bunch of information just to reject you, that's a waste of their paper and their time when all they want to say is: We regret to inform you...while if they send you a lot of stuff, it's saying: We want you to come!"

So as my heart is racing and skipping multiple beats, I open the envelope right at the front desk and see the Congratulations on your admission to graduate study at the University of Southern California!!!

THE official letter

So I fall on the ground, and people ask me if I'm okay. As I'm still in shock, I call my mom and sisters, send out a mass text message, and don't even know how I am going to come down off this cloud to study for another Final exam tomorrow! I've been mentally prepping for this day for a while now and can think of all the weekends I was stuck studying for the GRE, all the incessant emails and calls I had to give to professors in order for them to write me recommendation letters on time, and how my whole Christmas break wasn't even a break at all when I was writing various essays and applying to schools back to back...all that work has finally payed off! All the time I put into doing stories for The Lantern, Buckeye TV, and at NBC4 and all my involvement at Ohio State has payed off. :-)

THE information folder

Posted by TV_Hope at 4:23 AM | Permalink

The Student Outreach Committee that I'm a part of put on a Student Organization Summit (S.O.S.) today to bring all the different student groups on campus together. Our goal was to somewhat emulate the United Nations World Summit where all the leaders of every country come together to discuss their problems, how they can work better together and give each other suggestions. That's kind of what we did. We had breakout sessions where the representatives of ecah student organization could better learn about event planning, budgeting, marketing and member retention.

Here's the Student Outreach Committee of USG (Undergraduate Student Government) with others who are Student Leadership Advocates

We got a good amount of student leaders to come out, especially for a Saturday from 10am-2:30pm. Besides the workshops, I think a lot of people got something from the team building activity we all did. You can go to a million conferences but never really get a chance to meet and talk with people. And with us having a bunch of leaders all together, my committee knew that egos could be high and the willingness to be open and work with people could have been low. So we did a blind fold activity where 4 groups had to direct 1 person through this obstacle maze. It started off a little rocky because everyone wanted to be the leader and the main person in control directing. But after some time of give and take, each group found out the best way to lead within leaders.

Posted by TV_Hope at 4:19 AM | Permalink

With only a couple weeks of planning, my group The National Association of Black Journalists put on a magnifcent Media Panel featuring an array of minority journalists. Although we are a fairly small organization, we managed to draw big time reporters in the area to come talk about their experiences and journey to their profession. I contacted a nighly news anchor and photographer from Ch. 4 since I had interned there while the other officers got people from the other TV stations, newspapers and online magazines.
It was so nice to hear such great insight from these media pioneers about what it will take to obtain and reatin a reporting job in this economy. One reporter we invited from the Columbus Dispatch was actually laid off the day before and still managed to come out and share her story with us. Students received the real facts at the panel and nothing was sugar coated.
We were just happy to put on the huge event and help enlighten all the prospective journalists who came out. People have already started asking about doing a Part 2 to the Panel...so we'll see about organizing another one in due time.

The big time Columbus Media Professionals Panel and NABJ officers with me at the end :-)

Here's the panel with ABC 6 producer Kerry Charles talking among reporter, Tanisha Mallet and NBC 4 anchor, Mike Jackson.

We drew a decent crowd of well engaged Communication students who asked a lot of questions

Posted by TV_Hope at 10:52 PM | Permalink

Band season is going out with a big bang for me. We have to play at 12 events per quarter, and I only have 1 more to do. Each event has been fun and interesting to be at since a lot of the games, I otherwise would have probably never attended. From being at risk and nearly hit at the Men's Volleyball game since there are no nets and we play so close to the floor, to watching a referee get knocked upside the head with a stick in Women's Ice Hockey and taken out of the game, the excitement just doesn't end for a band member. Aside from the sporting events where bodily harm was caused, playing at the Men's gymnastics and Wrestling matches were also entertaining besides the normal and more popular Basketball and Hockey games.

For the Men's Hockey game against Michigan last weekend, the band took the ice for a change and performed the Script Ohio for the fans without even slipping or falling. It took me back to my old marching band days where I had to play and focus on my music while marching and knowing exactly where I was going all at the same time. The ice was pretty scratched up by halftime, so that helped out our traction a bit. It was actually kinda like walking outside on campus on a cold, icey day although I've seen many more slip up while walking to class.

Here's the band making the beautiful, traditional Script Ohio for the halftime show pleasure

Me and some of the sensational Saxophone section warming up before the big game downstairs in the Shottenstein Center

Sitting at the game after we received some free "I Love OSU" T-shirts

A view of the Hockey game from where we sit at in the band section

A closer look at all the fast-paced Hockey action if you can see beyond the net and protective glass

Even though it was a little annoying hauling my saxophone across campus to the Band Center in the Stadium every other day, it was actually pretty rewarding at times and a big relief from the typical day of class. While I had papers and articles to write, I enjoyed just playing my instrument for a change where a pen and a book were not necessary.The music was a de-stresser and a nice diversion because it just flowed and didn't have to make sense. The band class took my mind off the usual workload even if it was just for an hour and 18 minutes. I also liked the camraderie of the band members and getting to know new, funny people who helped make the 3-hour long Hockey games roll on by.

Here's some of my good friends in and outside of the band representing for the Woodwind section at our last game together :-(

We played the Women's Basketball team into another Big 10 Championship win for the 5th consecutive time

Posted by TV_Hope at 4:31 PM | Permalink

So today was my group's last project together. This time the assignment was to write a 6 page paper with charts & graphs and do a 12-15 minute PowerPoint presentation. We had a couple weeks to work on it and a little time after class, but again, trying to unify 5 college students with various demanding schedules to talk about presenting Agenda Setting & Priming theories in political news was a task. We went with using a skit from Saturday Night Live, which made fun of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

One guy decided to head up the entire project and do the PowerPoint and start off the paper. So after he finished, he sent it to another guy in my group who added to the paper and then sent it to me the day before our presentation. So I'm up all night trying to put the finishing touches to the paper and making sure we have met all the criteria. My group got together an hour before class and assigned who would say what for the presentation part. We decided to add in a little skit in order better represent some of the dull concepts of the project.

One of the guys was going to act like he was the White House press secretary, I was of course going to be one of the reporters intervewing him about the White House's response to the SNL skit, and the other guys were to be camera men. The class loved it! And we had people laughing since no one else decided to do a skit and just did the basic presentation. We made the effort to stand out and have fun with what could've been a boring project.

Our professor took a picture of us after our group went. We were quite the actors.

Posted by TV_Hope at 4:30 PM | Permalink

I had been working on an assigned story about the much-talked about "OctoMom" and even though at first I knew nothing about it, being a journalist seeking information, I became totally immersed in the story and all of its updates. I was only supposed to supply an Ohio State doctors' perspective of the situation, but it was hard tracking down the right professionals to comment since many felt they were not an expert in that area. Someone told me that Case Western had an huge Bio-Ethics department so I managed to get a hold of a professor and thought I was pretty much done with writing my story. But of course, with the Octomom making daily headlines, there were constant updates about her and her doctor so I also had to include the most recent news in my story too before what I said became outdated. I found out that the octuplets' doctor received his degree from Case Western, so I conveniently called back the professor I had spoke to and used that as my lead.

Here goes a look at the story:
http://www.thelantern.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=17d82118-b11e-4d41-9e4f-e1992cea778

Posted by TV_Hope at 5:19 AM | Permalink

This Friday 13th, I got to host the Acts Cafe again, which is a show featuring a bunch of talented acts by students in a nice, coffee house type setting. Even though it started at 8:00 that night, I almost didn't feel like doing it since I felt so overwhelmed with things that day. I attended a USG meeting, talked to some Communication faculty for a project I had to work on, turned in my job time sheet, faxed some financial aid documents, and then got a camera from Buckeye TV to film some b-roll. Although those were just simple tasks, What happened to the laid-back Fridays where I could just nap? I don't have any Friday classes, yet I still feel overloaded. But the Acts Cafe event went well, and I think I was a decent emcee even though I had to turn the mic over to one of my friends later on to be the announcer while I did a praise dance with my group. (I was clearly doing too much)

For the big V-day, I didn't have much planned besides going out to eat with my sister and to a concert featuring different R&B groups from the 1990s. So it was a very nice day, and I got the relaxation I sought to receive on Friday. I had mailed some Valentine cards and treats to my family and friends on Thursday, but was a little wary about whether they would make it to Atlanta in time because the postman blatantly told me they would not get there by Saturday since it normally takes about 3 days, and plus there's an overabundance of Valentine's cards and packages being mailed. But I still had high HOPEs that my items would get there in time. Not trying to get deep on you, but if you really believe that something is going to work out, it doesn't matter what you hear from naysayers.

This could be a professor telling you that you may as well wrap it up on your dream of becoming a doctor since you're not doing so well in Chemistry, or when people try to be the "Paula/Randy/Simon" in your life and talk badly about your talents. This can even be when you or a family member gets a negative report from the doctor. You don't have to accept it. Recognize its truth and potential, but know that people of this world don't determine your destiny. They can only make it or break it if you let them. I could have taken that postman's word for truth since he obviously knows what he's talking about, but I decided to trust & believe otherwise, and guess what: my family received the cards on Valentine's (Saturday) morning! So that's just a lil example to tell you to keep the Faith and always have HOPE. :-)

Check out my Valentine's column in The Lantern this week:
http://media.www.thelantern.com/media/storage/paper333/news/2009/02/12/Arts/Commentary.All.My.Single.People-3625054.shtml

Here are some highlight shots of the concert I went to in The Palace Theater downtown Columbus:

The 90's Concert Headliners: Dru Hill, a very popular R&B quartet of that time with lead singer and solo artist Sisqo

Other popular male group: 'Silk' singing some of their big hits

Here's Kelly Price, who started out singing back-up for P.Diddy & Mase and was able to step out

Posted by TV_Hope at 5:21 AM | Permalink

Decided to change it up this weekend and head to O.U. to see how the Bobcats do things versus the Buckeyes. My Godbrother had invited me down to Athens for their "Sibs' Weekend." It 's interesting how theirs is in the Winter while Ohio State's is normally in May when it's a bit warmer for the siblings. Just a lil drive about 1 hour and 30 minutes outside of Columbus, and you're there. Neat, how Athens, Ohio is just like Athens, Georgia- Both are college towns (Athens, GA has the Univ. of GA) and their builidings resemble each other with quaint architecture. And they both are about 90 minutes away from the state capital.

Ohio University was real hilly though so I imagine it would be tough to get the freshmen 15 there with those mountain climbs to class. They have a Buffalo Wild Wings, CVS, Wendy's and other spots on their strip known as "Uptown" since it is literally up a hill to get there. There's a distinct remoteness about the area that makes it sooo quiet outside, and you can clearly see the stars and the Big Dipper in the sky just like as if you were out in the country.

I thought Ohio State's dorms were pretty antiquated, but O.U. being the oldest university in Ohio, of course had us beat with decrepit residence halls. My Godbrother is an R.A. in one that had no elevator! I couldn't even begin to imagine hauling my truckload of items up multiple flights of stairs. I like to use the steps as another option or a healthier way, but not as the only way. The bathrooms I went into had no paper towels and the showers had an ultra-classic design that looked like a kitchen's faucet.

But beyond the old-fashioned style, the Ohio University campus had a homey feeling to it. Since they have 20,000 students, it seems like there's a little more unity in their student body and more attention on events like Homecoming and even a Mom's Weekend. O.U. seems like a place where you have no choice but to do your work since there's not much else going on. I bet it might be a little tougher for minorities to adjust since their number would be even smaller and there would less diverse outlets and events in the area.

But the Bobcats make do and seem to have fun doing it. For their Sib's weekend, they had major recording R&B artists Brandy and Day 26. They had activities going on all night in their Baker University Center like it was a mini-carnival. And just like President Gee, the Ohio University President is present at many student functions. He even lives on the campus like the early OSU presidents used to.

I admire their Journalism program since it's actually accredited and has so many concentrations such as: Broadcast News, Magazine Writing, Online and Print Journalism,and there's even Business, Community & Sports reporting. They have a live news show every night, and that just seems like something that Ohio State, with its thriving location and all its resources and people should be able to do. But both the Bobcats and the Buckeyes have a lot of great attributes.

Outside for Ohio University's Sibs' Weekend

Me posing in front of an Ohio University landmark

'Uptown' on Union Street which is like O.U.'s High Street with many shops and restaurants

In one of their cafe's, which was kind of like OSU's MarketPlace, but much bigger

A nice pic with Ohio University's President Roderick McDavis

One of the many extensive stair cases all the way up a hill!

A look at the campus with their brick buildings and unique design

My Godbrother Chris and I in his dorm before we go to the big Brandy concert

Miss Brandy singing her last song "Have You Ever" with P. Diddy's group Day 26 chiming in

After the show, Brandy talked with the fans and got surprised at some of them

My Ohio State friends, who are mega-Brandy fans and came down just to see her perform

My other Godbrother CJ at one of O.U.'s delightful Sunday Brunches that had everything to eat!

Posted by TV_Hope at 5:17 AM | Permalink

I've often heard people talk about how much they hate doing group work since you'll always have the slackers and the control freaks. Well, in my class project, we had both personality types. The assignment was for my Political Communication class, where we had to analyze a presidential speech and see how it was covered in the media and identify any biases.

The Type A people in my group obviously were butting heads while the other group members didn't really care. I kind of served as the mediator and tried to work with both of the "group leaders" since I'm more passive-aggressive and will go along with whatever the group wants to do unless it's just really wack. Plus I was the only girl with 4 boys.

I helped out one guy with the paper and another with the PowerPoint. But the PowerPoint guy didn't like the other guy's paper at all, so he basically transformed it. After some harsh emails and a couple of class confrontations, we came together as a group and met up this morrning for our presentaion.

We amazingly, did well together and pulled it off. Sure, some didn't directly help to contribute to the paper of PowerPoint, but how can 5 people really write a good 2-page paper? Does everyone write a solid paragraph? While we all have different writing styles anyway. The toughest part was trying to get us all to meet up with our various schedules. I was able to meet up with most of the guys, but we did not get any class time to work on the project at all.

Regardless, we all get the same grade no matter who does what...so this group project thing can really be a plus for some and a big minus for others.

Posted by TV_Hope at 4:55 AM | Permalink

The snow was really coming down hard last night, and there was talk going around that the worst was to come. CNN Analyst, Roland Martin said he didn't know what people were tripping about since it was just snow, and the city Columbus should be used to it. But when I got back to my dorm, there was a different kind of energy in the air. Folks seemed to be a little too happy to be outside. And I was racing back to my room to escape the cold, while people were joyfully and loudly playing outside at midnight! So I started to hear chants of "No School tomorrow!" then the text messgaes from friends came in, and then I saw the official class cancellation notice on the Ohio State website.

I was too excited and even more amzed...did OSU really just close down??? But after seeing the weather Wednesday brought, it truly was a total mess out there. I couldn't even see out my window, which was enough indication to keep me indoors all day.

But..the phone rings, and I get a call about coming into The Lantern and writing another inclement weather story. I thought no school meant no work, but clearly the news stops under no conditions. I eventually made my way out to the Journalism building around 3:00, and had to go back outsided to interview students on the Oval sledding and playing snow football. What a day!

Here's the article: http://media.www.thelantern.com/media/storage/paper333/news/2009/01/29/Campus/Snow-Ice.Give.Osu.Snow.Day-3601825.shtml

Posted by TV_Hope at 4:20 AM | Permalink

For this year's MLK Celebration, the guest speaker was Roland Martin, the CNN analyst and reporter for MSNBC, Fox News & BET. I sang with the Gospel Choir as we did a couple selections, and then the president of each of the black fraternities & sororities spoke about how their group supports Dr. King's Dream since that was the theme of the program: "Celebrate the Legacy: The Dream, Reality and Future."

Roland spoke very well and had everyone take a sheet of paper to write down their vision and realistic goals for 2009. He was pretty funny to be a serious commentator and kept it real with the crowd. He said that Dr. King's big Dream speech was about more than just having races come together, but King spoke about economic empowerment and serving others. Roland said it's fine to dream all day, but that's not going to get you anywhere, enact your plan. He said to start where you are and fix the problems in your home and neighborhood and state first before you try to conquer the world.

When a guy at the end asked Roland Martin about what he should do since he works at a youth center where the kids have punched him and let the air out his tires, he told the guy to stay committed at the center since this generation has never had to struggle or fight for anything, and we don't know what it's like to protest, get beat by police or attacked by dogs.

Here's Roland Martin giving an inspirational speech at the Holiday Inn on Lane Ave

Members of the African American Voices Gospel Choir, myself and Mr. Martin

Posted by TV_Hope at 1:36 AM | Permalink

The highly-anticipated event is finally here! The Inauguration has been the biggest buzz, especially for college students, where many of us voted for the 1st time. I don't recall ever wanting to watch the President's Inaugural Address and have only caught glimpses of it in the past. But President Obama's is the ultimate National news and has caused so many people to head out to D.C. to expereince it for themselves.

Although I wish I could have went, classes were still in session. But my professor said we could just watch it in class. I opted to watch it in my room intstead since the projecting screens often mess up in class, and I didn't want to risk missing the big speech. So it was cool to have 2 days to relax and reflect on the milestones that Black people have made in this country. Yesterday, for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday, I did a story on the huge MLK Day of Service. A lot of people actually got up early and came out to do the different projects in the community in celebration of Dr. King's serving legacy.

The week has gotten off to a great start, and it was so exciting to officially watch the swearing in of 1st Black President! I know people say Obama's presidency is about more than just his race, but we can't neglect to realize how monumental this achievement is for minorities everywhere. The entire ceremony went by rather quickly. It's like after Aretha sang, and Vice President Joe Biden said his oath, then it was Obama's big moment, and that was it. But it was a beautiful moment, and I was glued to the TV screen all day, from the parade to the balls. History!

Posted by TV_Hope at 1:31 AM | Permalink

So I get a call early in the morning from the Lantern advisor asking me to write a weather story for tomorrow's paper. As his teaching assistant, of course I consented, and plus it would give me some more writing experience. It was also going to take over my entire Wednesday afternoon and evening. But the weather was lookin a little shakey and the temperatures were expected to fall way below zero to a whopping -14.

So I got started right away with making the necessary calls to the top OSU media relations people to confirm any possible school closings, I called the University Housing to check on any weather related damages, checked with the hospital for a increase in patients and talked with the Campus Police about any accidents.

I found out that 2 pipes burst in the North campus dorms, a car crashed into a bus because of the snow, and I already figured that school would not be closing. Ohio State never shuts down! We had a good snow day my sophomore year, and in 2008 the Ohio Blizzard of a lifetime conveniently fell on a weekend so no cancelled class there. But it's amazing how I got more snow days in high school in Atlanta with hardly any snow, but can't even get a half day off in Columbus with the mulitple inches! Guess this city is too equipped and prepared for the tough weather conditions.

I'm just not prepared to brave the cold outside. This is absolutely my coldest college winter yet! And I know I say that each year, but the negative temps this time don't lie. My car barely starts up and the heat acts like it's too scared to come on. I left my phone in the car for 5 minutes, came back and it had froze and turned off. Wearing long johns is the bare minimum here. I pray that my face will stay on this weekend!

Here's my front page story on this inclement weather:
http://media.www.thelantern.com/media/storage/paper333/news/2009/01/15/Campus/Winters.Worst.Weather.Hits.Columbus-3585912.shtml

Posted by TV_Hope at 1:19 AM | Permalink

As the temperature continues to descend this quarter, venturing outside for campus activities is the last thing on most students' minds. That's why being a part of the Athletic Band has helped me to get out more during the winter. All of the 300 members in the band have to play at 12 events this quarter so staying in an igloo every weekend wrapped up in a cocoon is not an option. I have to play at an assortment of events from basketball, volleyball, & hockey games to gymnastics, wrestling & swim meets and even at hospitals and first-year student programs. And it's good to be a returning member in the band because I know all the music now and know more people in my section so nothing's foreign to me anymore. It took a while to pick up on the the tunes last year, especially at my 1st couple games when I knew not a single song. But it's good to be on the other side this year, and even though band is a bit much at times, I think I'll enjoy it.

Right after Athletic band rehearsal on Thursday, I went to the Winter Involvement Fair, which was held in the Knowlton Architecture building. I had to be at the tables passing out information for 2 groups I am in- Renewed Vessels Bible Study and The National Association of Black Journalists. Since I'm an officer for both, I had to be able to represent both. And that was a challenge since I'm always the one making flyers, posters and getting candy for the groups. I also am very active in recruiting people and as I would rotate tables, students would say, "Hey weren't you the one who just spoke to me at the other table?" But it was a good event and great venue for people to find new ways to get involved if they missed the huge Fair in the Fall.

Another nice winter escape was OSU Night at COSI (The Center Of Science & Industry, www.cosi.org) where all Ohio State students and faculty got to go to the fun science center for FREE. There was a shuttle that picked students on campus to go to the location downtown from 7pm until midnight. It was a really interesting place with exhibits on every floor. One showed year old food, there was the Echoless room, a mirror where your friend's reflection appeared when you looked through, and they had an interactive game doing eye surgery, a ride on a unicycle on a tightrope and short films that showed births. So there was a lot to see at COSI and a bunch of Buckeyes came out.

And the fun continued even after midnight when me, my friends, and sister headed to the Movies for the 12:25am showing. Needless to say it was a long night or shall I say morning when we got out, but that was just another way for people to stay active and beat the Winter blues this quarter.

Posted by TV_Hope at 3:47 PM | Permalink

I made a big step toward me getting my diploma by applying for Graduation today. I know the concept may sound a little weird, but all graduating seniors have to apply for graduation by the 6th week of the quarter they will be graduating in. Now even though I'll be done in June, I went ahead and applied now since I heard that the earlier you do it, the better scheduling time you will get, which basically means I'll get to schedule classes at the same time as all the athletes and honor students since they always get to schedule 1st. Seniors still get a top priority when scheduling classes, but now I am assured to get into all the final courses I wish to take even though I haven't had to waitlist a class since freshman year and have pretty much gotten into everything that I have wanted to take.

The whole "Apply for Graduation" thing seems a bit nebulous since no one ever really tells you about it, you just have to ask around and hear from other Seniors. Even making an appointment with your academic advisor is totally your responsibility as well, which it should be since it's your education, but you would think that you would at least get a reminder email from time to time telling you about the Advising Office hours or something. I don't even have a set advisor, I just meet with whoever is available in the Arts & Sciences Dept. I have made an effort to meet with one each year because I certainly don't want any surprises on Graduation day where someone tells me that I need to take another class.

There is a system where students can look at an audit of their courses and make sure they're on track and fulfilling each requirement. It would behoove everyone to check that periodically since sometimes a course may not appear or show up in the right category. That's what seniors have to apply for graduation so that advisors can check their audit and make sure every requirement has been met and that you have the 191 credit hours needed to graduate. I know I am on track since I only need 2 more classes!

It has definitely helped that I had 2 older sisters who recently graduated from Ohio State and are able to inform me on all the steps necessary to get out of OSU successfully. I just wish there was some guideline on what Seniors need to do their last year and when. We have to get a cap & gown and tassel that corresponds to our college's color, get announcements to send out and schedule & take pictures. At least in high school, there was more of a buzz about what to do and where to buy the gown and how much it cost. In college. everything is so hush hush and on your own. You'll get ten emails telling you to pay your fees on time, but nothing about when to apply for graduation....
:-(

Posted by TV_Hope at 12:41 PM | Permalink

I may have been enjoying the warm weather in Georgia a little too much that I was not thrilled or ready at all to make my way back to the cold Columbus. I knew I was officially back when I stepped outside the Columbus Airport and felt the ol' mighty wind chill saying welcome!
Aside from that complaint, there wasn't too much else to be mad about since I had class at 12:30 today. So I had time to unpack all my clothes and gifts and a nice while to sleep in under my heated blanket :-).

But it's amazing how even though you felt that you've been away for so long, when you get back to school, it's as if you never left. I was still trying to coordinate something to wear, when my friends from The Lantern were texting me to get to class since they were already there. So I scurried on, and it was good that I did take the extra time to look nice since my professor was taking Polaroids of each student as they gave a brief introduction of themselves. I told the class how I had "Color Weeks" where I wear I wear the same color for 7 days straight till I switch it up the next week, and so many people were fascinated and intrigued to see if I would be able to keep it up all Winter Quarter, but this has been my fashion norm since middle school so no stoppin' the train now!

Glad class was just a quick review of the syllabus after our photo shoot because that is all I had for the day and for every Monday & Wednesday, just a Politcal Communication class. On Tuesday/ Thursday, I 'll have a Mass Media History course and the Athletic Band class (yep, I pulled the old saxophone back out to play at the basketball & hockey games again).

Now that the day is done, I'm just trying to cope with another Buckeye Bowl Game loss, but hey at least we made it there and put up a good fight. We can't win it all the time or the other teams wouldn't try as hard, you've got to give them something to work for... Yeah so basically I'm in denial and thinking about how I have to embark on another quarter of buying books, making it through classes, and pushing closer toward Graduation...1/3 away!

Posted by TV_Hope at 3:16 AM | Permalink

Can't believe Christmas came around that quickly! But then again I can since I was in the mall last night with the rest of the late birds trying to get those last minute gift items. My family was real laid back this year because we didn't even start decorating the tree until late last night. It's like why even bother now? Christmas is here already! But my mom insisted that we do something in the holiday spirit since some families can't even afford to decorate this season.

I really felt bad for one of my friends from elementary school's family since my friend just died in a motorcycle accident last week and they had the funeral yesterday. So many people I haven't seen in years came out to the service, and besides seeing him in the casket and on the program, I almost couldn't believe it. Even thought we hadn't talked in a while besides through Facebook messages, millions of childhood memories began to spring up. Accidents happen every single day and you never know who's life is at risk. And for it to happen during the holidays is so tragic. I know today had to have been a Christmas his family will never forget. My heart and prayers definitely go out to them.

To continue the last minute traditions, my sister and I were still wrapping gifts at 2:00 in the afternoon so you can tell that we're not the rise & shine family were everything's done way in advance. We just put bows on Macy's bags and threw them under the tree. People say that Christmas is not the same anymore once you get older. I think it's been the same for me, but just more relaxed each year. I don't have countdowns to Christmas Day or a super long wish list, instead I put my energy in planning Christmas parties, baking and shopping. I guess the holidays really begin to change once you get married or when people pass away because after a while family truly becomes the sole component of Christmas. :-)

Here's me, my sisters and Godbrother Blake on Jesus' Birthday

Our lovely Tannenbaum we just finished decorating

Posted by TV_Hope at 6:48 PM | Permalink

Man I could not wait to get back home! I was so tired of writing paper after paper and dealing with the cold that I'm elated to be in Georgia. It has been 65 degrees here, which is awesome, but I'm mad I packed a bunch of sweaters when I should've brought some short-sleeved tops! It's like you have to prepare for all types of weather, but previous times when I packed loads of T-shirts it was actually pretty cold down here so things are never perfecto when you're steady packing for another climate.

Grade Update: I ended up getting 3 As and B in my Comm Law class so I was able to pull off an A in my Comm 500 class with the last minute papers and all!
I wish I could totally relax for the Christmas break, but I do have Grad school applications to finish up online and send out. They aren't due till January but I know that will be here before I know it, and plus I have to mail my transcripts and writing clips before they get caught up in the Christmas mail. But for the most part I have just been watching movies all day and shopping for family gifts.

I was glad to be able to get with my friends from high school this time, especially since mostly everybody is graduating in the Spring and who knows where we will all be this time next year. I co-hosted a get together with my friend at her house as a way for everyone to reunite, and it was nice catching up with people and realizing that no matter how long it's been or wherever you go, you will always have a common bond with old friends since they knew you first. Even though I was the only 1 from my school to go to Ohio State (besides my sisters) and I am left out of the loop on the latest Atlanta stories, I think it's exciting to come back home and reconnect. Because I feel like I have close friends all over instead of just in my home state. It takes more effort to stay in contact with old classmates while I'm away, but at the same time it lets me realize who my true friends are.

I'm way in the back posing with a tight group of my friends from high school class of 2005!

Posted by TV_Hope at 5:21 PM | Permalink

For Finals week, I thought I was getting off pretty easy since I only had 1 exam to take and some papers. But those papers turned into 5 essays and 4 I had to do for 1 class by today! So needless to say I was up alllll night long writing and writing some more. I know I never should have waited to the last minute like this, but I was dealing with GRE stuff last week and then focused on studying for my difficult Comm Law class final. I needed to write the 4 papers for my Comm 500 (Quantitative Journalism) class since I made a 76 on the last exam and even though I scored a 92 on the 1st test and got 16 points in participation & attendance, I would still need 91 points in assignments to reach the 275 to make an A. So that meant writing a quantitative research report worth 50 pts, 2 press releases for 20 pts a piece, and 1 empirical journal review for 5 points.

I tried working on the research paper first since it was worth the most points but I didn't even have a topic. The assignment was to take statistics from public data and write a brief journalistsic story on it in 2000 words or more. I decided to use charts from the U.S. Census Bureau, which provided household figures for 2007 and just write on how there are drastically more females heading homes with children under 18 opposed to males.

In the meantime, I further prepared for my Comm Law final by studying with my friends from class in the much crowded 24-hour library, and we ended up studying till 1am when I still had 4 papers to write by 11:30am! So the clock was definitely ticking and the pressure was on. I had to read the empircal article and then write a review on it in 2 hours, next I moved on to writing the 2 press releases. I interviewed the researchers for the 2 studies so I had to transcribe what they said from my tape recorder, read their results from their studies and write those fairly quickly. The hour was about 7am, the sun was coming up, and I had to make sure I was writing a good 800 words per press release and that it was proofread and perfect enough to get the full 40 points.

I finally kicked off wiriting the big research paper around 9am and had no idea how I was going to be able to get 2000 words in 2 hours about some stats! But I was just typing away, rephrasing old statements and totally breaking down the data from comparing the numbers of single mothers in Ohio to the rest of Midwest and all over the U.S. But I was working well under the pressure and finished it up by 11am, which gave me enough time to get ready to go and eat some cereal.

I speed walk my way to my Final exam, and take it with bloodshot red eyes and absolutely no energy. Amazingly, the test didn't seem bad at all since normally we have to cite various court cases and laws, but he just asked simple and straighforward questions. I'm glad I finished that exam by 1pm so I was able to turn in all 4 of my papers to my other professor by 1:30.

Guess being a journalist and having that daily pressure of being able to produce good stoires in a short amount of time just stuck with me, and I still can't believe I was able to pull off 4 papers in about 9 hours. Thank you God!!! Glad I got those out of the way, so I can go to sleep and write my last paper for my Social Work class tomorrow!

Posted by TV_Hope at 4:14 AM | Permalink

Tonight all the major black reporters, photographers, writers, producers and anybody influential in the news business of Columbus, Ohio came out to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Columbus Association of Black Journalists.

It was such an exciting event to attend since I got to see news reporters young and old and hear their stories about how they got started in the industry. There are not too many black faces on local TV so each reporter was pretty recognizable and friendly. The first black anchor in Columbus was present along with the journalists who founded the CABJ. The highlight of the night was when Ch. 10 anchor Jerry Revish told his story about how he was able to get Walter Smith, who was falsely imprisoned, released because of his persistent and skillful reporting. He got good attorneys on the case, a lot of support from city officials, and had to do some in depth research in order to get him off. He said their is a way you can just talk to a person and tell that they're not guilty. And it was good that Jerry Revish was so steadfast in getting Walter Smith free, especially since he had so much potential and now hosts his own radio show on Columbus' Power 107.5 station.

So it's great knowing that so many people paved the way for me and other minorities to be able to get a chance at reporting the news. Sure there's a lot more barriers that need to be broken down, but the preliminary battles have been fought and more opportunities are available because of those pioneers in journalism.

Here's me and some friends from The Lantern and Buckeye TV

Me with the photographer from NBC 4 who helped me get my summer internship

Posted by TV_Hope at 1:36 AM | Permalink

So today was the big day when I took the GRE- the Graduate Record Exam (http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.fab2360b1645a1de9b3a0779f1751509/?vgnextoid=b195e3b5f64f4010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD). I'm taking it because I'm applying to Graduate school and that test is required just like the SAT/ ACT is for Undergrad. So I was up early this morning doing some last minute prep with GRE practice tests, and I then I took the bus over to West Campus since the testing site was at Pressey Hall. The test people don't allow you to bring anything into the testing room and make you place all belongings including your coat, purse, wallet and whatever else in a locker. They don't even let you bring a pencil since they supply that along with scratch paper. I guess they are really trying to crack down on sneaking in items like cell phones. I had to sign in and out for water breaks and had to take a picture before taking the test to prove that I was actually the person on my I.D.

Other than the tight security, the exam kind of mirrors the SAT in that there's a Verbal, Math and Writing section, and it's 8:00am-12:00pm depending on how early you finish. I actually studied for this test more than I did in high school. I met up with my friend who was also studying for the GRE and we went over different test taking strategies for the math portion and reviewed vocabulary words. Since I took the practice GRE last year, I kinda knew what to expect except the test was much longer. I started off with the writing section and thought that went pretty well since I'm used to coming up with essays quickly even if I had to write one in 30 minutes.

What made this day more intense besides the extensive exam was the fact that I had a final exam to take right after at 1:30 in my Comm 500 class and then I had to give a quiz to some students in The Lantern class and then I had to sing and praise dance in the Gosepl Choir Concert that night. So I knew December 3, 2008 was going to be a major day. The only reason I signed up to take the GRE then was because that was the last day it was offered in December that fit my scheduled. Of course I could have taken it earlier. but I felt I needed more time to prepare and before I knew it, all that time had left and I was forced to sign up on a really busy day.

But as everything usually works out, I quickly studied for my Comm 500 final in the hour before and did well in my concert later on tonight and surely am about to be fast asleep before I have to wake up to study for a quiz tomorrow morning!

Posted by TV_Hope at 6:34 PM | Permalink

I know that home is where your heart is, but this Thanksgiving I wanted my heart to be back in Georgia. Out of all my years at Ohio State, I've never spent Thanksgiving in Atlanta. I would always still have class on the Wednesday before so unless I skipped it, I would be forced to fly out late that night or early Thanksgiving day, which would be so tough and expensive, especially just to come right back on Sunday. And I would know with both my parents formerly working in the airlines that Thanksgiving is the busiest time of the year to travel.
But everything has always worked out holiday after holiday since I still have some family here in Ohio. My oldest sister, who graduated from Ohio State in 2006 now works at OSU and lives near Easton Mall so my mother and my other sister, who graduated in 2007 came up here for Turkey Day. Although we haven't had our traditional Thanksgiving in the comfort of our own home in a while we just adapt to our situation and know that we have a lot to be thankful for no matter where we are.
Plus, I still get the whole Christmas break to go back home and chill, and it would seem pretty pointless to go back home and then come right back to Ohio just to go back to Georgia in a week.

I always thought that at least one year I would spend Thanksgiving at a friend's house in like Cincinnati, Cleveland or Dayton, but surprisingly most of my college friend's are from out-of-state as well so they're busy trying to go home and mostly everyone else takes off by Tuesday night. I love my Ohio friends and all, but I don't even know if I'm ready to spend an entire holiday weekend with them. Any other time would seem fine but coming at a time when all their family is going to be there seems a bit intrusive, and I would feel out of place. It's like going to your friend's family reunion...like why go? It's not your family! And I don't know half the people at my own family reunion, let alone meeting an entirely new crew.

Deciding where to spend the Holidays is a big deal when you attend school far from home. There's just so much to factor in, and instead of planning on making a quick 2-hour drive, you have to make flight arrangements, get a bus ticket or go along with a friend. At least it kind of prepares you for life after college if your job ends up being many miles away from home, you'll already know what to do. :-)

Here's my family out at Longhorn Steakhouse the day after Thanksgiving

Posted by TV_Hope at 8:21 PM | Permalink