City of fear

I've found that this city has a lot of fear.

"Well, yes," you might say. "That's typical of big old broken cities."

Granted, there is a lot of goodness growing here. There is a lot going on in the community, with people coming together and building it back up. There is positivity, and there is hope. Many natives of this city tell me it is definitely on an upswing.

... and then there's reality (Part 2)

Interestingly enough, a few days after I wrote my first half of this post, Verily Magazine online provided a similarly-oriented article, basically discussing the addictiveness of online shows.

I was particularly struck by some of author Lacy Cooke's commentary on comparing addictive TV shows to books you can't stop reading:

Kermit the Frog, reporter

I don't know why this made me laugh so hard. 

I think it might be because we get to see Kermit lose his cool. I think it's kind of inspiring - even frogs can have bad days. 

The end of an era

Sigh. 

There are many thoughts to be had, but on a personal level, I've greatly enjoyed this column ever since I encountered it as a wee journalism student.

And having more recently been covering actual religion news ... well, this was quite an inspiration to me in what I was doing.

... and then there's reality (Part I)

After a long day in the office spent squeezing information out of my brain and through my fingertips into the keyboard and ultimately, onto a Word document, I need a good mental break.

And since I just spent about seven hours of my waking day staring wide-eyed into the white glow of a computer screen, the most natural thing to do, obviously, is to spend another few hours curled up on my couch staring into a computer screen again.

Paying attention when covering stories

Sometimes you're writing that one story that you couldn't care less about. It is of no personal interest to you, and you need to get it done by the quickly-approaching deadline... but you just can't get it to "move along."

But in these instances it's good to think about the people you interviewed for this story. (If you didn't at least try to obtain any interviews for the story, you did something wrong, but that's a whole other issue.)

Seeds of a smile

By Chivalries as tiny,

A Blossom, or a Book, 

The seeds of smiles are planted - 

Which blossom in the dark.