http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/ en Copyright 2009 Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:09:13 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 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 http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/06/grad_day_near.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/06/grad_day_near.html Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:09:13 -0500 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]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/05/heritage_festival_week.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/05/heritage_festival_week.html Sun, 03 May 2009 10:58:03 -0500 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!]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/04/in_action_april.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/04/in_action_april.html Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:26:02 -0500 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]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/03/usc_me.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/03/usc_me.html Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:23:39 -0500 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. ]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/03/sos.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/03/sos.html Sat, 07 Mar 2009 04:19:23 -0500 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 ]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/03/media_panel.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/03/media_panel.html Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:52:53 -0500 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 ]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/03/the_final_note.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/03/the_final_note.html Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:31:49 -0500 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. ]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/02/project_the_group.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/02/project_the_group.html Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:30:38 -0500 "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]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/02/octomania.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/02/octomania.html Fri, 20 Feb 2009 05:19:07 -0500 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 ]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/02/lovely_weekend_1.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/02/lovely_weekend_1.html Sun, 15 Feb 2009 05:21:59 -0500 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!]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/02/at_ohio_university.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/02/at_ohio_university.html Sun, 08 Feb 2009 05:17:51 -0500 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.]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/02/group_projects_good_or_evil.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/02/group_projects_good_or_evil.html Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:55:08 -0500 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 ]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/01/a_snow_day_1.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/01/a_snow_day_1.html Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:20:47 -0500 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]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/01/martin_for_martin.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/01/martin_for_martin.html Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:36:51 -0500 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! ]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/01/mlk_day_the_inauguration.html http://blogs.targetx.com/osu/TV_Hope/2009/01/mlk_day_the_inauguration.html Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:31:37 -0500