Wonderings...

I was assigned a little sister last week for my music fraternity SAI. I was matched with her because she's a freshman going into the J-School so it's a learning experience for her and I can mentor her in more than just the ways of our fraternity.

She and I had our first meeting about SAI on Wednesday and it turned into a 2 hour long dinner chat about the state of the industry. And her insight made me think.

The people who are going into J-Schools right now, knowing the state of the industry, can't be doing it for the wrong reasons. If they know there are no jobs, then they're in it because they genuinely love the field of journalsim and genuinely want to find a way to fix it.

To me this means two things.

There's got to be a way to fix an industry that so many people still care about. I don't know what that way is, but they're determined to find it.

And...people in the industry now had better watch their backs. They came to position in the golden age when jobs were readily available and you didn't necessairily have to fight tooth and nail. These people coming through school now...they want it. They want it bad. And they're going to find a way to get it.


As a side note, I had a random thought the other day. I remember as a girl anxiously listening to the dial tones on my internet waiting for the dial-up to connect. That was later upgraded to DSL. And my parents, over the weekend, switched to the new AT&T U-Verse. That completely eliminated the need for my wireless router. The same can be said for my Century-Link internet in Columbia. I literally have 3 wireless routers just hanging around because the technology has surpassed their need.

Can new technology save us? Or is it the tool to our own demise?

Senate vs. House

I know the legislative difference between the two. I'm a poli-sci minor, I'd better know.

But...a big difference...

Representatives call Reporters back. Senators don't. Or at least the ones on the bills I need information on. I maintain this goes back to High School when I got blackballed by Victor Callahan 4 different times. Yes, HIGH SCHOOL. And then this summer working for Fox 4 he wouldn't call John Pepitone back. I finally say the man in person for the first time on Wednesday...and we played the staring game.

But seriously, the senator sponsoring the Amy Hestir Child Protection Act would not call me back. I finally got in touch with Senate Communications who game me the phone number for another senator who could help me out and I'm glad they did. I finally, after 3 days of making class, have the information I need to finish this story.

Now I just need to get away from KOMU to write it.

*phew*

In other news...

The capitol building is way cooler than I remember. The last time I was there I was a wide-eyed 4th grader who had just taken her first train ride from Independence, MO to Jeff City on a field trip. And, the experience was kinda wasted on me. It was an early morning, I was tired, hungry, and a little overwhelmed. This time around, 12 years later, I'd had an early morning class, I was tired, hungry, and overwhelmed. Ok, maybe it was the fact that I was a foot taller this time? I don't know. As an almost 22-year-old I was better able to handle the massive-ness that is the Capitol building.

My life as a Google Calendar

I no longer have a life. I have a calendar linked on google that my group-mates and capstone supervisor can edit.

I have to plan fun time, aka...LOST premiers tomorrow (so excited) and that's on my calendar so I will remember to set time aside to watch it. Good grief.

I'm seriously considering putting my sleep pattern on there too...that way I'll actually remember to do it.

Capstone Angels got another email from Rebecca this morning giving us the Senate committee hearing schedule this week. We're each to pick an issue and do a preview story, and then a committee hearing wrap up on it. My assignment: education hearing on Wednesday afternoon, specifically the Amy Hestir bill on Statutory Rape in a school setting.

I'm going to spend my afternoon (which is the only one this week not mapped on the google calendar, aka my only time this week that isn't scheduled for anything) researching the bill's history and trying to get ahold of lawmakers for phoners tomorrow morning about what they want to accomplish in the hearing. I'm thinking another print story with a few photos added when I visit the capital on Wednesday...we'll see how this goes.