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