the end

Well, this is it.

Tomorrow is the last day of classes for my second year at Carleton, and the first Monday in a long time with no class to attend.

Honestly, it’s bittersweet, and I can tell you for sure that I wouldn’t have expected that when I came into this year. Reporting has been a tough class, a frustrating class, a chaotic class, a busy class. It’s given me plenty to do and plenty to learn and plenty to figure out. And when it was starting out, I was not exactly a fan.

But it turns out that I’m glad I stuck it out. It took a while to get used to and a lot longer to enjoy, but I certainly do look back on the past 8 months in this course fondly. This course has been a faith-testing one, for sure, but the ways that it has caused me to rely on God are so amazing. And the things I’ve learned are so many more than I expected. It’s so cliche to say it, but I can’t believe how far I’ve come. And somewhere along the way, I realized that I actually kind of like the whole reporting thing. It’s exciting, it’s hands-on, there’s always something new to learn.. It’s right up my alley, in fact.

I just can’t believe that I am already writing about second year reporting in retrospective. It’s bizarre.

I’m sure that I’m rambling. What I’m trying to say is that I feel ready now to head out into the big scary world of journalism, and at the very least hold my own. Not only that, but I actually feel a little bit inspired to get out there and try things and do things and ask the questions and write the stories and trust that I am able to do them justice.

That’s a long way to come for a reluctant journalist. I started this blog with not a lot of enthusiasm and even less confidence in my abilities. I most certainly have my wonderful prof, Kanina, to thank for at least part of that. (And no, I’m not just saying that because this is getting marked. She really has ignited a passion for journalism in me that I didn’t have before.)

Anyway, this is getting long, and if I’ve learned anything in journalism this year it’s to get to the point. So perhaps I should do that here pretty soon!

I guess that point is that this course has felt like torture and it’s felt like joy. There are ups and downs, like anything else. But I’ve come out of the other side with so much new knowledge and experience and passion. I’m still the same reluctant journalist that went into it, but I’ve come out smarter, more excited… Ready. This course has taught me. A LOT. And there is nothing more that I could ask for from a single course in my university career than that.

The Pulse, for the last time

So the URL for our final edition of The Pulse is ready for release!

http://thepulseottawathree.wordpress.com

Also, my article about 3-D TVs is at the top, but here’s the link as well:

http://thepulseottawathree.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/3-d-televisions-jump-into-canadian-market/

And my Stephen Lewis story is here:

http://thepulseottawathree.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/stephen-lewis-tackles-new-foe-in-speaking-tour/

Check it out! The final product of a year’s worth of journalism reporting, learning and craziness!

time to dance on the table!

I’m doooooooonnnnnneeee!

I’ve just sent in my last story of second year journalism. And, amazingly enough, it went great! It was a really fun story about 3-D TVs, my sources were all friendly and great, and I really enjoyed the whole day. What a great way to end the year!

I am on such a journalism/end-of-the-year/everything high right now, and it’s a lovely feeling. I feel like dancing on a table or something!

I guess I don’t really have that much to say, but I just felt the need to share the joy I’m feeling.

I’ll post the link to the publication and my stories later on.

:D

productivity

I am a complete productivity fail.

There seems to be some kind of proportionality in my life currently between my work ethic and the number of days until I’m done this semester/exams. As in, they are declining proportionally to one another. Which is unfortunate, since I am not done yet and should, even now, be doing homework.

It is probably a bad sign that I am blogging as a procrastination technique.

…..Perhaps I should stop now. That would be the smartest, most logical, least appealing decision. Blaghhhhhhh. Fine. Back to the grindstone I go.

Summer, please come faster!!!

life after editing

The Pulse take 2 is done and ready for circulation!

This week, I didn’t get to be an editor… And I’ll admit it, I was a little sad to leave behind my favourite role and go back to reporting. So I was perhaps a little unenthused while working on my weekly story about Pepsi school guidelines. That story did come together quite nicely in the end, but I wasn’t exactly pumped about it at the time.

However, I did get to be a multimedia reporter on publication day (Monday), and it was actually a great time. I got paired up with my assignments editor from last week (Alex) who I already knew was a machine based on her impeccable speed-editing skills from our first week. We were assigned with doing a multimedia look back at the H1N1 pandemic.

So, we decided to be ambitious: video footage. Photos. Voiceovers.

It’s a good thing I’m a determined person, I think. Between Alex the machine and myself, we managed to learn how to work an entire program while using it to edit our piece, and we finished with seconds to spare. And it’s not perfect, but I am just proud as heck of it. So it turns out there’s more to journalism than editing, after all.

Here’s the publication: http://www.thepulseottawahealth.wordpress.com

Here’s my weekly story: http://thepulseottawahealth.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/pepsi-to-pull-soft-drinks-from-ontario-schools-by-2012/

And here’s that video that I’m just so happy with: http://thepulseottawahealth.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/looking-back-at-h1n1/