Finally a profile of Ris

Hey everyone,

My newspaper has finally published one of my most 'fun-to-read' stories. Due to some timing issues and the desire to publish the story on a Sunday, it's just now getting up. I worked really hard on this story, so please check it out!

Update:

Apparently the CityPaper in Washington D.C. found my story and wrote a little blurb. Read it here.

New Story - I know it's been a while!

Hey! I spent my day working on this story yesterday and I'm fairly proud of it, so please enjoy!

What Barney has to say about the win...

Yesterday, I spoke with Rep. Barney Frank about the election results. Here's what he had to say!

Profile of me...kinda

Apparently Boston University puts profiles of their students up on their Web site. It's taken them a while, but here's mine.

"There is the United States of America..."

Good morning my country! Guess what...I'm proud of you. And you too, Indiana.

Not necessarily because you chose the best candidate - thought I believe you did - but because of the momentum you have inspired in this country for the first time since I can remember. History was made last night - that cannot be denied. Grass root efforts pull through yesterday and I am so proud of everyone in this country for using their voice. I'm thrilled with stories of massive voter turn out. I'm ecstatic that the youth vote actually came alive yesterday.

Bravo!

And now, the hard part...right? We aren't a decidedly blue country - we are very violet. I have so many friends and family members who do not share in my excitement about our President-elect. And I know how you feel....four years ago I was feeling much the same. How do you rebuild? I honestly don't know, but I hope and pray that there is a plan in place. And I have faith that there is. And I know in my heart that we have an amazing and competent leader who will hopefully sway those who are on the fence.

God bless America.

More FEC...

Here's another about money - this time where Rep. Barney Frank is putting it!

Federal Election Commission Story

Every semester, the students in the Boston University Journalism Program must write a story using data from the Federal Election Commission. This is my story...

Profile

This is the first profile - really - that I've written. I hope you like it!

Story

This is a story I wrote this week, it's really brief, clearly, but fun to write.

I have a profile coming...and I love it!

Stories this week...

It's been a slow week, but I wrote this over the last two days. It might be my favorite story so far...

More stories

I wrote this a while ago, but it just went up online. I like this story. :-)

The coolest thing I've done in D.C. so far

I don't think I fully appreciated my press pass until last night.

All day yesterday, it was up in the air about whether or not I'd be covering the vote. It seemed unlikely, as my paper has a tradition of pulling from the wire when big events happen - it's a smart move, actually. If I were in editor, I would not be likely to trust a 21 year old college student with the responsibility of understanding and reporting on the financial crisis or one of the most important votes in our Congress's history. I'd leave it to the pros. So, I wasn't surprised when she, during our weekly meeting, said she would just be waiting to pull from the wire yesterday.

I know it's strange but when I thought I could be covering the vote, I was dreading going to the Hill. Covering this vote would have been so stressful and intense, and I'm thankful that I was not put in that position. (Jenny, my roommate and future reporting superhero, did however cover the vote, all day, for thirteen hours. Her goals and ambitions lie far ahead of mine, that's for sure. But she was amazing!) But, as soon as it became apparent that I would not be in charge of reporting this, the idea of going didn't seem as awful. Sarah, our class photographer and my neighbor across the hall, decided that we should go and we should make it fun. So, as soon as I filed some quotes from the infamous Barney Frank for the paper, we ran upstairs to change out of our jeans and into our Hill clothes. We headed to the Hill and made a pit stop at Capitol City to take advantage of Happy Hour before we went to watch the festivities.

We got to the Capitol around 6:30 and made it up to the Senate Press Gallery (it's a balcony that oversees the Senate floor) just in time to listen to John Kerry present his speech in support of the bailout package.

-- Just to take a time out for explanation, because I know I wouldn't have known had Jenny not explained this to me. If you ever hear the bailout package spoken of as an amendment this is the reason why: Appropriation packages cannot originate on the Senate floor. So, in order to pass this legislation to bailout Wall Street, the Senate had to add an amendment to an existing bill - in this case the Mental Parity Act: HR 1424. --

Back on track now...

After we watched John Kerry speak, Sarah and I decided to walk around for a while. We knew a vote wasn't expected until much later in the night. We walked from the Senate side of the Capitol over to the House side, which was ghostly. There weren't even security guards around. All attention had been diverted to the Senate side. On our way back to the Senate side from the House side, we walked through the second floor - which passes through the Whisper Room and the Rotunda. I never envisioned in my life that I'd be able to walk through the Rotunda of the Capitol Building alone (well with just Sarah at least!). It was a very staggering moment and pretty eerie actually. By this time, it was dark, so these empty halls in the Capitol were almost overpowering.

When we got back to the Senate side, we headed back into the press gallery to get situated for the vote. We sat watching debate on a few other bills before things started to get exciting. When we were first in the press gallery, it was fairly empty. But as it got closer to the time of the vote, it began to fill up, and so did the Senate floor.

My little Indiana heart could barely contain itself as soon as Sen. Evan Bayh walked onto the Senate floor. Everyone in the newsroom makes fun of me because I get very excited whenever Sen. Bayh appears on C-SPAN and last night was no exception. They laughed, but for good reason. Sen. Obama snuck onto the Senate floor without making a big deal of it, but as soon as he was spotted everyone, even seasoned journalists, were standing in the Press Gallery (which is a no-no) trying to find him. We saw Sen. Clinton (who looks much better in person and without the stress of the election weighing on her!) on the floor next. And Sen. McCain made a fairly grand entrance through the main door of the Senate. When Sen. Obama went to shake his hand, Sen. McCain offered one shake and (not even kidding!) rolled his eyes to his Republican counterparts as Sen. Obama walked away.

Then, we got to watch the vote. There aren't many people who can say that they saw the two presidential candidates on the Senate floor during the peak of their campaign, but I am one of those people. The vote itself was, obviously, huge and being there was...historic, for lack of a better word.

Hopefully you'll be happy to hear that both Sens. Bayh and Lugar voted in favor of the package. (I'm crossing my fingers that our Reps. will follow suit on Friday! Ellsworth voted for the House package, but Pence did not...) I think, though, that I'm happy the package went through the Senate. The additional provisions to the Senate plan will, I think, ease in its passage in the House...but we'll see.

But wait...it doesn't end there...

As we were getting ready to leave the Capitol, we saw two possible exits. We had come in one way and knew how to get back to the Metro from that exit. As we turned to leave, a few of the other news staff from BU noticed tons of cameras running toward the other exit. So, being reporters, we followed them, and got to the exit just as Sen. Obama was leaving the building.

We were four feet away from a possible President of the United States of America.

It was a good night, to say the least. I was definitely a little star struck by the whole event, but very honored to have been a witness to everything that happened.

So...D.C. here is a challenge I pose to you great city: Top That.

Get ready...

Details of my night to come...it's gonna be good!

Stories this week...

This one I actually wrote on Friday, but it didn't go up online until Sunday. I contributed to the second brief. It's nothing big.

Here's one for my New England paper.

And another.

The self-guided walking tour of Courtney M. Hime

I do not take photos. I've gone for three years of my college career without a digital camera.

But, in August, I bit the bullet and bought a camera to use while I was in D.C. Two weeks in and I hadn't taken a single photo. Apparently, you can't teach an old camera-shy dog any sort of new photography tricks.

Then people started pressuring me for photos. Strange, I know.

So today, in an effort to get some exercise and appease those who clamor for photos, I went on a walking tour of the major monuments in D.C.

Here is what I came up with for you to enjoy...

Stories this week:

I wrote this. Here's the actual print version of this story.

And contributed to this.

And wrote this.

Not a bad week.

A long time coming...

Well, I'm here. I'm finally here. And while I know that I promised many updates, you have to understand that I've been hesitant to sit down in front of my computer long enough to really put time and energy into a blog that's up to my standard of writing. Sadly, I'm not sure I can claim that with this post, but I'll do my best. The good news is, though, that I'm out actually enjoying my time here instead of staying in being homesick - though I am a little.

Basically, I'm in love with this city. I love public transportation. I love how much I have to walk. I even love the weird looks I get when I mutter things like "Wal Mart" and "Hoosier." I'm definitely a little overwhelmed, but on the whole, I think this semester is going to be amazing.

So far, I feel like I've done everything - which is, of course, impossible. We've been very busy this past week, but at the same time, haven't done that much. The week was full of orientation and house keeping. I spent the week in and out of meetings being filled in on what I'll be doing all semester. I also am now in possession of a shiny new press pass that gives me tons of access throughout the Hill (slang for Capitol Hill for those of you who aren't up on the lingo...haha!). Orientation provided us with an open-top bus tour of the city, which was very nice. I've also been on an informal tour of the Capitol - and actually got to sit on the House floor last Friday as the Republicans continued their post-session talks on their desire to pass the American Energy Act. This began on August 1st and has continued without much deviation ever since. From what we've heard from a few of the communication directors for the various congressmen - including one from Ohio that I might be covering - they intend to continue these talks until the bill goes up for a vote. They are hoping for a vote next week, so we'll see. Keep your ears open. It's all very interesting.

Anyway, as you can tell I'm also brushing up on my current events. This is, in all honesty, the hardest part for me. I'm doing my best, but I can already tell that not being as informed as I should be will ultimately be my biggest weakness. Oh well. I will overcome...I hope.

As for the most important things...I've sectioned them off for the remainder of the post. These are the most common questions I get asked, so hopefully it will help paint a picture of what I'm doing. Please please comment. If you ask a question, I promise I'll answer!

My roommates...

...are amazing. We've said it between ourselves, but we can't imagine a better group of people to be grouped together. I have four roommates: Jackie, who shares a room with me, Ilinca (Linka) who has a single, and Jenny and Nicole, who live together. All four of them are students at Boston University. Actually, almost everyone in the program is actually a BU student, but they've been great. We share stories about our respective universities. And there's a slim chance that I might go up to Boston with them toward the middle of November - which is very exciting as I've only been to Boston's airport.

Jackie, Linka, and Nicole are doing the internship program, and are working at various places in the city. Jenny and I are both in journalism. Interestingly enough, we are the only two undergrad students who are focusing on print-journalism (meaning: everyone else in the program that is working for a newspaper is in grad school). Even more interesting is that, I believe, Jenny has more experience than any of the grad students. Incidentally, I may have more experience than a lot of them as well - but that's not important. We've had a great week so far and, while I can see that tensions could mount as we get more stressed out, I think we'll really enjoy living together. We've gone out a few times since we've been here and have just been having a blast.

My job

I've learned a lot more about what I'm doing now, which is good. On Mondays and Fridays I will be working at the Columbus Dispatch as an intern. I imagine there will be some coffee getting, some story contributions, and a few bylines, but not tons. On Tuesday, Wednedsay and Thursday, I'll be working as a correspondent for The New Bedford Standard Times - which is a local paper for Massachusetts. I'm working to cover the 4th district, which is overseen by Congressman Barney Frank (D). I'll be pitching story ideas to cover in both of my jobs, which is going to be a huge challenge for me, especially as I was blissfully unaware of some of the issues that impact New England - like fishing...who knew!? Um...I'll know more about my job next week, as I'll actually be reporting for duty starting tomorrow/Tuesday.

My thoughts

- I made the right choice coming to this city during this semester.
- I love these girls. I couldn't have been given better roommates.
- Being 21 in this city is very nice.
- I could see myself living in/near DC for a time.
- I'm open to the possibility of political reporting as a career.
- Going back to Greencastle for a semester is going to be tough.
- I still do not take pictures.

Happy now?!

One for the conservatives

To be fair.

More DC blogging to follow.

Get Inspired

Don't worry...I'll post McCain's as well. But, to be honest, I can't imagine feeling as deeply moved and touched by his as I did by Obama's last night.

An exercise in objectivity

So, I can't say that I envisioned spending the last ten days of my time in Greensburg in front of my television - even less so tuned in C SPAN.

The truth is, I'm stressed out enough trying to fit in all of my goodbyes, and finding time to devote hours to watching political coverage is the last thing I want to do. But, I must. You see...I am spending my semester in D.C. and while the bar *cough* I mean museum-hopping will be amazing, I have to remember that I'm mostly there for the experience of political reporting - an area in which I tend to fall short. So, when my program director sent out an email encouraging us to take in all of the Democratic and Republican convention glory, I took note.

Which brings me front and center in front of our amazing HDTV watching - not car crashes or action scenes - but Caroline Kennedy talk about her father, Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama. It's not what I pictured, but I'm really enjoying it actually...

...but I'd consider myself a democrat.

And here is where we reach the point of this particular entry: I need to learn to be objective. Now, I don't believe that I overtly have a problem with this, but I can already tell my attention to this particular convention is immensely greater than my attention will be to the GOP convention.

(Side note, they just showed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Yeah...I've met him :-))

Anyway..(see...attention problems)..my goal for this entire semester is to maintain the same objectivity I bring to news stories about campus bikes to stories about politics. It will be an initial challenge - and not in the writing, but in the reporting. I believe that the bias begins in the reporting. It's harder to be slanted when you have a full-range of quotes for a story - not impossible, but hard.

I have tons of goals for my time in D.C. but I can't think of a more fitting one to voice than this of a quest for objectivity. I think that, of all the situations in which I could find myself testing my objectivity, this election in this city is really the truest test to that challenge. Wish me luck.

Also...I currently endorse C-SPAN for the most accurate coverage of the convention - without commentary. I also enjoy CNN and MSNBC - wonder why? Okay, okay...Fox News too...

The Last Summer

I think after you graduate if you don't do anything after school it's called unemployment, not summer. So, this is it - technically. And while this blog is supposed to be focused entirely on my time in D.C. I think it's somewhat fitting and allowable to write a review of summer...just as a lead in to where I'm heading this fall.

In case you had not gathered, I'm a very big fan of sectioning off whatever I write to allow for readability. In the journalism world, we call these sub-heads - and, yes, I'll be throwing in journalistic facts whenever I can. There' s no point in reading a blog about journalism and not learning a little bit about AP style. For example, AP says that when you're talking about this blog, you call it a Web site, not a website or a web site. Capital W, space site. Strange - yes, but correct nonetheless.

So...in typical Courtney fashion, I present the sub-heads of my summer.

The Good
Losing what I gained: Last summer...I dropped about 30 pounds. I gained about 7 of them back during the school year, and now I'm down fifteen...sooo I've lost 37 in the last year. More importantly, though, I'm back on a routine - and I am aware of the challenges of keeping it off. We'll see out D.C. treats me... :-\

My old friends: Summer always reminds me just how great my friends are - both those nearby who I do not get the pleasure of seeing during the school year, and those who are torn from me because of the summer. It's also amazing when those you pushed away allow you to pull them back.

The new: Some people come into your life and change it. This is nothing short of a gift, one for which I am extremely grateful.

The break-up: I've written a blog about this already, but essentially...I'm thankful for the way it ended and that it ended at all. It was a gift that it went smoothly and that I bounced back so well.

Lack of stress: Don't get me wrong - this summer has had it's share of turmoils, but in general, summer reminds me to be the more relaxed version of myself. I've never been one to go with the flow, but I can adapt much more easily during the summer months. I generally like myself during the summer more than I like the mess of stress I can become during the school year. The three month break is much appreciated.

The Bad

06/07/08 Flood: I will remember this summer as being water logged. Despite the tremendous stress this flood placed on my family, I will remember this date as being a turning point for everyone in the surrounding areas of Central Indiana. Some of the things I saw during and after this weekend were just...mind-blowing. I am thankful for the lack of damage our basement incurred during this devastating weekend. Cut to....

07/22/08 Flood: I can't fully describe the emotional toll this took on myself, or my family.We had been in our basement for a grand total of 17 days. We were on vacation for five of those. To wake up at 3 a.m. to an inch and a half of water beneath your feet is not pleasant, nor is the thought of summoning up the courage and energy to deal with being displaced. I think the worst part - aside from the financial burden that's plaguing our seemingly cursed family - is the fear of rain it's given to our family. I feel my stomach churn when I hear anything heavier than a drizzle. It happens though...

Favre Saga: Talk about an emotional roller coaster. Favre cam anyone? I honestly don't think this deserved as much media coverage as it received...I wish it hadn't at least. I have made my peace with it and, fittingly, he's no longer the media magnet that he was. It's still hard...especially on my father.

Learning the truth behind the facade: Friendships are not always meant to last forever. And if you learn that the basis of a friendship is strikingly different than what you had imagined...well then it's okay to shake up the foundation.

The Upcoming
August 8 - 11: The reunion1 I've been looking forward this weekend for quite a while. The Sikes/Pappas wedding is providing an excellent occaision for getting together with some of my all-time favorite Tigers. Most importantly - the Trio. I can't wait to see Emily and Megan. Emily and I have a hotel room in Plainfield for Friday, a shopping trip with Tumbas scheduled for Saturday, and then some HSM on Sunday before she heads to Chicago...and then to Africa. The only downer to this weekend is the reminder that I'm going to be away from all of these amazing people for a semester.

August 13: The DePauw's Back to School issue...I can't fully be a part of this week, but I at least wanted to swing by and say hey to my favorite budding journalists. I can't imagine not being with them every day (except Saturdays) for a whole semester...plus BTS week is notoriously fun.

August 14-17: Robin, Jon and Sean are coming up from VA for the weekend. I have no words to explain how excited I am about this.

August 30-31: Last visit to DePauw before I head out.

September 4: The DeParture (hehe...capital P...get it....no?)

And now for something fun. I'm a list maker. I make lists mentally, in my sleep, when I wake up and even when I write...well...especially when I write. As music, movies and TV dominate a sadly large part of my life, I'm sharing - as a change of pace - these pieces of pop culture that have or will make an impact.

The Music that I Learned to Love

I own very few CDs anymore. I collect my music song-by-song, sporatically. But...this summer four bands/singers really took over my iPod. I love them, and they are all on iTunes, so please check them out!

Charlotte Sometimes
Katy Perry
Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers
Thriving Ivory

The Movies I Must See

I didn't see nearly as many movies as I would haved liked this summer, so hopefuly I can make up for that when I'm on the East Coast. Here is a running list of the movies I want to see through the end of 2008. (Source: imdb.com)

American Teen
Bottle Shock
Burn After Reading
Eagle Eye
Hamlet 2
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Henry Poole is Here
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
Miracle at St. Anna
Mirrors
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Nights in Rodanthe
Pineapple Express
The Brothers Bloom
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The House Bunny
The Rocker
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
The Spirit
The Women
Yes Man
Zak and Miri Make a Porno

The Shows I am Craving

I didn't actually watch that much TV this summer...but only because all of the best/my favorite shows were off the air. Here are the one's I'll be catching up on while I'm in D.C.

24
Dexter
The Office
Pushing Daisies
Scrubs
Smallville
Ugly Betty

An Introduction

To me...

Logic would indicate that if you're reading this, you have a fairly good idea of who I am - at least in terms of the basics. You'd know that my name is Courtney. That I'm from Indiana and am going to school at DePauw University - where I'm a senior. You'd be able to guess that I'm 21. You might know that I'm an English Writing Major - with minors in Sociology and History. That I want to get into Journalism. That The DePauw is my favorite thing about going to school in Greencastle. You could probably tell someone that college has been terrible and wonderful for me. You could mumble about Delta Zeta and perhaps boast of a few of my good times. If you really knew me, you'd be able to determine that my friends are my heroes. I love my family, both immediate and extended. I've been truly blessed in life - not that I haven't been through m share of disappointments and failures, I have. But I've come out on top, I think.

If you didn't know any of that...well then you probably stumbled onto this by accident. So, hi there. Welcome and feel free to read on to get to know me - or not.

To the Program...

The most important thing that you should know about me is that I'm spending the first semester of my last year at DePauw not at DePauw. I'll be in Washington D.C. as a part of Boston University's Journalism Internship Program. Yes - I'll be in D.C. through Boston via DePauw.

I'll be taking 16 credit hours - 4 credits for you DPU folks. Four of the credit hours will be spent taking a Political Reporting course. Four will be spent as an intern for the Washington Bureau of The Columbus Dispatch. The other 8 are spent...well...I'm not quite sure exactly. It's a course called "Newsroom" and from what I can gather from the program's Web site, I'll be writing newsclips and there's a chance the clips will make into some fairly prestigious New England papers:

"Directed Study in Print and Broadcast-Newsroom. Advanced newsroom training in
writing and reporting political and public affairs news for publication and broadcast. Students cover Congress and the federal government three days a week for the Boston University Washington News Service and its news media clients throughout New England. Students serve as the Washington correspondent for a particular news outlet and work closely with its editors proposing story ideas, carrying out assignments and filing on deadline. Students typically earn 20-30 bylined clips."

Either way - it's writing and collecting clips for that ever-so-daunting process of shipping out my resume to any/all interested area newspapers. So that's it for academics!

As far as logistics go, I'm staying in The Washington Center where I'll be living with five other people in an apartment that has a kitchen, bathroom, 3 bedrooms (gulp...I'll have a roommate again!). I won't be bringing my car (I get that question a lot) because I am afraid of D.C. drivers.

Some other fun facts about the experience:
- One of my friends from high school who goes to a different university is also going to be in this program - though not for journalism, for politics - so I'll have a face from home there too!
- One of my best friends - and E.I.C. of The DePauw for the spring semester - lives in Northern Virginia and will be a mere Metro ride away if I ever need anything. Plus...she's one of my favorite people and getting to spend the semester with her...and others...is going to be fantastic.

To the Blog...
The whole point of the blog - in case you hadn't gathered by now - is to update everyone on my time in D.C. I'll do my best to post clips of mine (assuming I have some and they are accessible from the net), update you on what I'm doing/experiencing and basically chronicle my time off campus. The idea behind the blog is that I'm much more likely to take the time to write a blog than I am to sit down and write an email. Plus you can always check to see new things I've posted. If I were the type to take pictures, I'd post them here. I'm not - but maybe D.C. will change that.

What it boils down to is that if you want to know what I'm up to - this is the place to find out!

With that...enjoy the blog and feel free to leave comments!