Lots of things

Well, right now is an interesting time. The Sentinel (Issue 8) came out last week. We don’t have another issue for six weeks, so I’m in a quagmire work wise. See, I work really well under pressure. However, remove that pressure and boom... I’m lazy and unmotivated. Take yesterday for instance. I got to The Sentinel office at 7 am and stayed there until 2 pm. The majority of that time I was doing nothing. Sure, I got a bit done, but when you consider how many hours I spent there, it’s pretty lame.

So, that is something I’m continually working on. It’s great to be able to work under pressure, but it’s also important (I think) to have the long term vision to work as you go. Not just last minute.

That being said, some pretty cool stuff happened yesterday and today.

First off, yesterday I found out I had been selected to attend the annual Poynter Fellowship. This is a two-week journalism intensive in St. Petersburg Florida. Basically you apply and then if you are one of the 40 selected you spend the two weeks immersed in all things journalism related. It’s pretty neat to have this opportunity. The only stumbling block is the price ($1,800 not counting air fair, food or lodging). It’s not exactly cheap. So, I applied for a scholarship. Hopefully I get that, but we will see. I have to say thanks to Jake Donahue for telling me about this. He did it last year and said it was amazing. He also recommended me to the lady in charge there, which I'm sure helped a bit.

Now, the next neat thing; as some of you may know I’ve been working on developing a new website for my mother. Well, if you read the top half of this post you might see that I’m not so good with the long-term motivation. Website design = a long-term motivation thing = Eli is not staying up on it.

That all changed yesterday. Darci Sinclair (a student of my mother) has volunteered to work with me. She is a professional graphic designer. We had are first meeting yesterday, which was absolutely awesome. It’s so cool to work with someone who is an expert at what she does. Also, having another person on the “team” forces me to work harder and more regularly, which is great.

And finally, I just found out 20 minutes ago that The Sentinel won Best of Show in the New York CMA convention. Pretty cool! Nils Rosdahl (my adviser) just called to tell me.

Yup, well that it is about it. The Yoga teaching is going well. I’m well on my way to the 20 hours and I love teaching. Still got a ton to learn but that is why I’m taking a teacher training.

Buisness Card

Here is a card I designed a while ago. I haven't actually printed it because I'm cheap and don't really need a business card right now. Still, it was fun. It kind of looks like a cow now that I think about it.

Photos

Hey here are some photos I took of the NIC welding class. Turned out nice.

Cheer, it's over (I hope)

Well, it has been an interesting week. The whole cheer leading thing really took off. Today I met with the athletic director (Al Williams, great guy) and the cheer leading coach. Yesterday I removed the article from The Sentinel website and posted a formal apology. The more I think about it the more I believe I messed up. Of course there was no way for me to know that the writer and the cheerleaders had past history, but as the editor my job is to figure things like that out. So, I’m happily taking responsibility for it, well happily is probably the wrong adjective, maybe willingly or ploddingly… or stickily… no that doesn’t work either…. Anyways I’m taking responsibility for it. Click here to read the apology letter (Yeah, it's the one with the flashing red thing that says 'Breaking News').

So the meeting today was all about that. I apologized to the cheer coach and we generally just talked about how bad of a mess up that was. Overall it was a good meeting, however, at points I felt that I wasn’t really being listened to… but so is the plight of a 20-year-old.

So, the upshot of all of this? Personally I’ve learned quite a bit. Although we’re students and just learning, what we write and publish has an effect. So be careful. And as the editor it’s all my responsibility. It all comes back to me. That is my job.

So, I think the worst is over. The last couple of days won’t be missed.

And, as an aside I’m so, so, so glad I’m not wrapped up in NIC’s social drama scene. It sounds like a mess.

Issue 8 Pages

Hey, so a great issue. We will probably take this one to the New York competition, pretty exciting. Anyways check them out.

A1



I didn't draw this, or come up with the idea, but wow it's cool isn't it?

Issue 8

Issue 8 of The Sentinel is out. It’s a good one. We all worked really hard and it shows. There are some mistakes, but nothing major. I forgot to bring the PDFs home with me, so I’ll post them tomorrow.

Something interesting did happen though. Today I was sitting in class when one of the editors came up to me (Nils was talking) and told me there were four mad cheerleaders in the newsroom. I immediately though “Oh boy, they are mad about that opinion piece.” Well, I was right. They were mad. Really mad. Two of them were crying. They yelled (well, maybe loudly exclaimed) at me for 10 minutes. I told them there wasn’t much I could do about it, that I was sorry and that I hoped they would write a letter to the editor expressing their anger etc. I don’t think any of it helped. You can read the article here. It doesn’t say anything terrible, at least not outright. What it does is hint at things.

Anyways, it was an interesting morning. It got better as Nils (the adviser) got several phone calls from angry parents and the athletic director.

It looks like we are going to meet with the AD and the cheer leading adviser (or whatever you call that position) tomorrow.

I feel really bad about this. As the managing editor it’s my responsibly to check things that go into the paper. Well, personally I think I goofed. I don’t think we should have run this article. However, it is an opinion piece. So it’s a complicated issue because it's this one guys opinion (I didn’t write the article) and he has a right to express it (I suppose).

I’m not sure how things will work out. I do believe that it will all blow over (eventually, like everything I guess), which isn’t to say I’m taking it lightly. It was hard to watch those girls cry in anger and shame.

So, we will see. I’ll have a better idea about what will happen (or won’t) tomorrow after we meet with the AD. Until then I’ curious, what do you guys think (here I go assuming that people read this, well I guess I’ll find out)? I would love it if you would go read the article and then comment, let me know.

Actually that reminds me of an article I read a few weeks ago in Wired magazine. It’s all about how, after a certain point, social networks stop being social. That once you have 20,000 Twitter followers the conversation stops. Pretty interesting. Check it out here.

OK, great thanks for reading, lets talk.

JDC

Well, today I taught my second yoga class. It was at the Juvenile Detention Center, or JDC. Jennifer Harbour, one of my mom’s students has been teaching there for some years, free of charge. I posted about it before, but I just got to write more. It’s hard to describe. The place we’re doing yoga is a cafetria floor. The lights are bright, iridescent things that hum. It’s a gym. But it’s still Yoga.

I had a whole class planned out. It was a good class, focusing on arm balances (I was billed as the arm balance guru). But a class in JDC isn’t like a class anywhere else. It was good to have the notes, but I had to be willing to stray from them often, which I did.

It was chaotic, but thanks to Jenn it all stayed good. She is amazing. The work she has done there and continues to do is so invaluable. So precious.

I guess the thing that really gets me about doing Yoga at JDC is the kids and how, fundamentally, vulnerable they are. Yes, they are tough and I would never ever want to fight them. But the other reality is that they are young, scared and abandoned. So many of them are in JDC because their parents couldn’t or didn’t want to deal with them.

Bum deal right?

So, when I first walked in there, that is more or less all I see; tough kids that could kick my ass. But once the Yoga has started that all dissolves. Soon they are just kids moving their bodies and loving it. They are just having a ball.

That is the power of Yoga I guess. It just brings people together. Me who has lived the a truly blessed life, and then these kids, the poorest of the poor (whether it be financially or simply relationally).

So, I feel so lucky to be able to go into these situations. With out Yoga I wouldn’t be able to. It just wouldn’t be possible. But Yoga is the bridge.

The class, which was never exactly organized, ended up turning into a giant Yoga/Dance class. We turned on rap music and did a flow practice. I loved it. It was so fun.

And then they left. One kid, who is facing 19 years in the ‘Big Jail’ for getting involved in a high-speed car chase, shook my hand as he left. He is incredibly talented at Yoga. He can do things I can’t even begin to try. Someday he could be a kick ass Yoga teacher. But he is going to be in jail. He is 18. He has been living on his own since he was 12. Now he is going to be in jail until he is 37.

It’s tragic.

Back from Phoenix

Hey all, I'm back from Phoenix. It was a fun trip. The Sentinel won Best of Show at the ACP Convention, which is awesome. Pretty happy about that. Anyways, jumping right back into my life and work. Really excited for the coming production week, I think it's going to be a good one!
Again great time in Phoenix. I can't express my gratitude enough to Nils Rosdahl, my adviser, for helping me get there and teaching me everything I know.

Here are some photos from the hike we took on the very last day we were there. Really a great hike.