Photo Challenge Days 1, 2, 3, 4

Here are the images for our 10 day challenge for the first four days!

Staff Photo: Week 1 so far

Alrighty then....so far staff photo--isn't too bad. It's a challenge for me in the sense that it requires lots of patience, a virtue of which I am in short supply of. However, I am trying to challenge myself with new techniques and ideas and ways to make otherwise "boring" shots interesting and appealing. So far, so good!

Three things I'd wish I'd known at the start of reporting..

So with reporting coming to an end, it's time to look back and reflect on what I wish I had known when it all started. Below are the three big things:

1. For sports, check mutigers.com DAILY!! A lot of stories, tips and news releases pop up there every day...this also helps you contact sources for other stories, for once you contact a media representative with the MU athletic department they tend to always include you on future emails (this is awesome for sports!)
2. Don't worry so much about intruding on someone's space or making them (the source/subject) feel uncomfortable, it doesn't help you at all when reporting or writing a story
3. Question everything, even your editors at times. Checking everything anyone says is important. 

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/08/07/two-mu-volleyball-players-named-all-sec-preseason-team/

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/08/07/two-mu-volleyball-players-named-all-sec-preseason-team/

I had no idea you could kill baby animals...legally

Apparently zoos need controlled breeding....well what about breeding and rearing for the WILD, you know GIVING BACK to the environment that the world has essentially destroyed. Read this article on the controversial use of euthanasia and now contraceptives to control wildlife and exotic animal breeding in zoos. 

Busy bee

Today was a good lesson in how fast-paced a newsroom environment can be. The sports' desk seemed relatively quiet in the early part of this week, and reporters sat in the mornings feeling useless.

That didn't really happen for me. I began catching an itch to work on something immediately, and I found some releases to cover. So I did those. They didn't quench my thirst though.

Luckily, as the week wore on, releases turned into stories and updates. And, by Friday night, I had a total of 7 media (stories, briefs, and a picture) up. Sunday, I have another event awaiting to be covered. I was glad to be feeling used again.

But, the real story was today. I was following Christian Cantwell in London, and the morning update got written, edited, and posted with ease. This afternoon was different.

Nick and I went to the afternoon MU basketball press-conference regarding the team's upcoming tour to Europe for 10 days. Well, of course after that was done, it was due for Cantwell's final results. So, while in the early moments of writing on the press-conference my editor flew me away and said Cantwell? So I flew, wrote an update, and flew back and wrote more of the story.

But, then I was needed to help identify people in pictures and write captions. By the time I returned to Nick, he had finished our last few thoughts and Greg had the story.
Just have to say love working with Nick as a team, he was great getting the story with and we worked fast and efficiently together to get the story done and published with complete coverage.

Needless to say, I'm tired.

Have we passed racism yet?

Has the world moved on past racism and scapegoating yet? Is Hitler, though dead, really gone? His Nazi ideas still seem to be lasting in socialst and neo-Nazi groups in Germany. Even an Olympic athlete from Germany admitted to being tied to a neo-Nazi group.....see here