Back, back, back on the attack

Well, hey. It’s been a bit. Lots of good things to relate. Stories to tell, photos to share, memories to recount. It’s going to be fun. In the interest of time, professionalism and clarity I’m going to divide this post into a few different categories. I’m not sure what they are yet… but I’ll figure it out.

Seattle to Seattle (and a little more)

So it’s been month, more or less (probably more) since I last wrote. So I think it’s appropriate to bookend this thing, meaning I’ll start with the beginning, skip four or more weeks and end with the end. Then I’ll go back and fill in the middle, much like building a house.

Right, so what does this have to do with Seattle? Well I started in Seattle and ended in Seattle. So there.

On March 23 I drove to Seattle to pick up Emmanuelle Martin. She is this woman that I met in India during my trip. We got along great (read: really amazing) and are (judging by my facebook status) in a “relationship.”

I hope that didn’t sound snide or sarcastic. I don’t feel either. She was here for three weeks and it was amazing. It’ shard to explain, well actually its not. We get along really well. We just fit each other, pretty perfectly. And she is really beautiful and has this amazing grace about her.

I’m a big fan. Anyways, she was here, it was great and I’m not going to divulge any more intimate details onto the Internet. Trust me though, I’m really lucky.

So, I picked her up in Seattle, and now I’m driving back from Seattle. This last weekend I went to look at colleges (well actually only one, Seattle University) and to tour the Seattle Times and generally see Seattle. I drove there with a bunch of people from The Sentinel. I spent the first night with my good friends Hannah Reid and Sarah McHugh, who both attend Seattle University. They were awesome hosts and really made me fall in love with the college.

The next night I spent with Sentinel folks, which was a lot of fun. Mike McCall (the new managing editor of The Sentinel), Mike Paquine (the new online editor) and I walked around and had a good time seeing down town Seattle.

The next night (May 1) I went back to Seattle University and stayed with Hannah and Sarah again.

And now I’m on a bus, flying through Central Washington, wondering what the burning electrical smell is.

Yoga

My Yoga life has been going great. I’ve been teaching and have gotten the requisite 20 hours. In fact I now have something like 25 hours of teaching experience. I’ve been doing Yoga everyday, which really feels great. I feel changes in my body, slowly but surely. My hamstrings are lengthening and I feel very present in my body.

Actually, this weekend was a big one as far as yoga goes. On Saturday morning I went to my first ever Bikram inspired class. For those of you who don’t know Bikram yoga is where you do yoga in a hot room. There is a whole style and philosophy behind it. I’d never done it and boy was it interesting. I didn’t find it very hard, however, the experience of sweating that much was definitely something new. I really enjoyed it, however, I’m really glad I have the privilege of practicing (and hopefully teaching) Anusara Yoga.

Then, this morning (May 2) I got to go to a yoga class at Seattle Yoga Arts. This studio is owned and operated by two women who are good friends with my mom. They were very welcoming and gracious. I had a wonderful time, and quite a bit harder than the Bikram class I went to.

Newspaper

And things have been going great here too (I live a lucky little life, ah nice alliteration). A few weeks ago I found out that I won first place in the Region 10 SPJ (Society of Professional Journalists) feature-writing category, second place in in-depth reporting and first place (shared with Jake Donahue) in editorial writing. The Sentinel also won best of show for the Region 10 SPJ. Basically this means that we will go to Las Vegas (I won’t but The Sentinel will) in October to compete in the national competition. Design wise we have a good shot at placing in the top three, but we will see.

And, in addition to this all, I got accepted to the Poynter Institute. This, in of itself, is pretty awesome. I applied for the fellowship a few months ago without giving it much thought. I really didn’t think I had much of a chance. I guess I was wrong. As cool as this is, what is even cooler is that I’ve managed to get enough money to go. At first I didn’t think I would be able to because it came with a pretty hefty price tag. However, thanks to Nils Rosdahl and NIC I’ve been able to wrangle up the necessary funds. I leave on May 15 and will be gone for two weeks. Oh, right. The Poynter Fellowship is a two-week journalism intensive. Forty student journalists from around the country attend the fellowship where they learn from the “industries best.”

It should be a good time. It’s in St. Petersburg Florida, which I think is a cool place, I’m not sure if it can beat Coeur d’Alene in the spring. We’ll see.

The Sentinel is almost done. We have one more issue. I’m no longer the managing editor (despite the signature on my email address). The new guy is Mike McCall. For this last issue I will be in an advisory role (much like the U.S. in Vietnam pre escalation). I’ll help Mike learn all the things he needs to know for the nebulous and taxing job that is being the managing editor. I will miss it, but I think it’ll take a few months for me to miss it. Right now I’m just glad to be almost done.

Restless horizon looking attitude

I’m feeling the good old little travel urges. Actually they aren’t little. I can’t wait to be traveling (yes, this definitely has something to do with the fact that I’ll see Emmanuelle). It’s really getting intense. It’s hard to sit still. It’s hard to keep the same old routine that I’ve had these last 9 months. I’m horizon bound.

But wait, what about the summer?

Great question. This summer I’m working at Camp Reed, again. I’m so, so excited. It looks like I’m going to be leading CITs (Counselors in Training), which is this great program. It’s four 14 and 15 year olds. Basically how it works is we spend one week working on projects around camp (and we really work hard) and then we spend another whole week biking around Lake Coeur d’Alene (around 300 miles). I can’t wait. I’m really, really excited. I get to lead the weeks with some great people.

So, I think those are the main ones. I’ll add more if I think of things I omitted.

I’m still on this bus and that burning electrical smell is gone, so that is a plus. We’re in Moses Lake. It feels so good to be on a bus, traveling moving seeing different things different people.