A Death, a Birth, and a New Year
The news business can slowly steal your sanity. This statement may sound strange to many, but anyone who works in news knows just what I’m talking about. It can take you to the greatest emotional heights and lowest slumps all within a matter of seconds and then start again. During the past couple of days I experienced that journey, surrounded by the ambience of a New Year.
Live-shots are one of my favorite parts of my job, so it’s no surprise I was psyched to go live from Pier Park as they began their first New Year’s Eve celebration. Standing in the midst of a growing crowd with the music of a live band in the background, I did the 6 o’clock without stumbling in the least, and packed up with a smile ready to go home and enjoy a celebration of my own. That moment, when you’re just about to step out of work and enter the realm of your own personal life, (however miniscule that may be as a reporter) always seems to be the precise moment tragedy strikes.
In this case, it was a New Year’s Eve boating accident that took the life of a 64-year-old man. Driving 45 minutes through rural back roads of Gulf County, I arrived on scene after investigators had left, but the family was still there. It’s the hardest part of my job, walking past family members who’ve just lost a loved one, with a camera in hand. We’re not welcome and we understand. I can’t even begin to think how I’d react in that situation toward a reporter like myself, so I do my best to be un-intrusive and shoot video of the scene as quickly as possible.
Within a matter of hours, the mood shifts, and I’m up the next morning to welcome the first Bay County baby of 2009. I’m so grateful to be a part of a wonderful family’s special day, as their household becomes complete adding a new little baby boy to their 2 daughters. It’s all smiles and laughter as the New Year begins.
Reporting is a roller-coaster ride much of the time. But, I guess that’s why we’re here… to experience both the bad and the good.
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Difficult Times to Give Thanks
It seems as though lately, the only thing dominating topics of discussion whether it’s at the coffee shop, the park bench, or the newsroom… is the economy. I can’t even count the number of economic stories I’ve covered, or other stories resulting from hard economic times during the past couple of months. I am also at a loss for exact numbers when I think about the number of friends or acquaintances who’ve lost jobs, or can’t seem to break into anything they’re looking for. But, perhaps the best, and most inspirational portrait of the slumping stock market was something I saw this Thanksgiving.
Like many, I worked this Thanksgiving holiday and added my existing job on my list of things to be thankful for. I was assigned to cover the Rescue Mission’s annual banquet, a topic I’d previously covered in a story about their lack of funds and concerns over this year’s meal. I showed up around 11a.m, along with hundreds of homeless people. Surprised at the shear number and diversity of those without a place to live and regular meals to eat, I found it was almost twice as many as they fed just last year. The events that followed, however, were more surprising.
One by one, people from the crowd stood up on stage, and listed things they were thankful for. I ran to turn on my camera just in time to catch one man dressed in a beaten t-shirt and ripped jeans; hair on his face and dirt under his nails, he spoke to the crowd of hundreds like him, and said, “I don’t have a place to live and my dad died last month, but today I have all of you.”
Some people may not like working Thanksgiving. They may complain because they can’t be home with their families, they miss the Macy’s parade, or the game, or their mom’s famous green bean casserole. Sure, I miss those things, but this year I don’t think I’d want to give up witnessing that moment for any amount of sweet potato pie.
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World of Couch Potatoes
It’s an event that only comes once every four years and for a select few, it’s the event of their lives. They train day in and day out, following rigorous schedules, diets, and physical determination that requires self-motivation beyond my imagination. It’s the Olympics. And it’s turned me into the laziest couch potato I’ve ever been.
Excluding the moments of glory, like when the U.S relay swim team beat France after their bad-mouthing antics, and I jumped out of my comfortable cushion to scream along with millions and watch the expression on Michael Phelps that will most likely appear on the next Wheaties box-- I remain cuddled and calm, only feeling slightly guilty that while they’re displaying the greatest amount of strength and energy, the only thing I’m finishing is my bag of Doritos.
I think everyone’s favorite thing about the Olympics is the way it binds us all together. It’s amazing to me that after all the years and wars and hatred man-kind has exerted on one another, a simple game of sport can let us put down weapons and pick up a volley-ball. Seeing three different flags rise above the heads of athletes who bear smiles as bright as their medals is something I think everyone should take the time to stop, sit down for a minute, and appreciate. Even if it does make me a couch potato.
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About Me
I was born and raised just outside the nation's capital in northern Virginia, and recently graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a major of Broadcast Journalism and minor in International Relations. I studied abroad for a while in Italy and also traveled to Shanghai, China for a journalism class. During college I worked at CBS6 in Richmond, VA as well as FOX5 in Washington D.C. I'm glad to be in sunny Florida and look forward to making Panama City my home for the next few years...
Recent Entries:
- A Death, a Birth, and a New Year
- Difficult Times to Give Thanks
- World of Couch Potatoes
- Trying the Trolley - Day 5
- Trying the Trolley - Day 4
- Trying the Trolley - Day 2
- Trying the Trolley - Day 3
- Trying the Trolley - Day 1
- A Year-Old Newby
- Throwing a Bone
- Relay for Life a Success!
- Sometimes Too Removed
- Those Born Without Wings Should Jump Instead
- Those Born Without Wings Shouldn’t Fly
- February Sweeping me off my Feet
Other News13 Blogs:
- The Casual Historian - Larche Hardy
- Derby Girl - Enocha Van Lierop
- The Newby - Jessi Chapin
- Gainesville, Georgia's All American Girl - Tuquyen Mach
