I'll see you in the summer!

   This blog is temporarily inactive due to another blog I maintain for the photojournalism class I teach at Owens Community College.
   I will resume posting to this blog in the summer, considering I need to keep practicing my writing skills.
   Thanks, and I hope you return in June. 
   

There's a warrior in all of us

 The Warrior Dash was the race of my lifetime.
  It was 5Ks of fun and games. My worry that I'd struggle was not necessary because the race was more fun than challenging. I also hired a YMCA personal trainer to help me prepare three weeks before the event. That helped a lot.
   Most of this video was shot wearing a Go Pro camera on a snow ski helmet. I didn't care that I looked like a dork (how my kids described me) wearing a bright pink ski helmet because costumes were encouraged. What mattered is that I documented the entire race. My friend Laurie was nice enough to wear the helmet the last mile so I could show my kids that I can still run, climb, jump and swim at 50.
   I loved the mud, camaraderie and physicality of the whole experience. There were people of all ages and sizes. Very few people actually ran the whole time. Actually, you couldn't run fast most of the race because the extreme muddy, steep trails in the woods made it too dangerous. Mud forced us to slow down and enjoy the view!
   The video features highlights from all of the obstacles. The only two obstacles not recorded by the Go Pro camera were the final two: the fire and mud pit. Unfortunately, the 4G memory card went full with only 10 minutes left in the race. So, I recorded those two obstacles with my G11.
   Tips for running the race:

1. Walk at least a few miles twice a week for three weeks prior to the race
2. Use at least an 8G memory card for a Go Pro camera
3. Wear disposable socks, and don't wear anything nice
4. Bring a friend who can hold your stuff during the race and take photos of you crossing the finish line!
5. Donate your shoes afterwards to charity.

   Thanks for watching!!!! This is also available on YouTube: Warrior Dash Lori King

Huddled between pinball machines

Dana cooks hot dogs and checks the weather as the storm quickly approaches.

Anxious campers wait out the storm from the game room shelter.

Kerrie saves the chicken, and Dana comforts our kids.

   We knew the storm was coming. Fellow campers at our campground in Dundee, Michigan were talking about it all morning. Fast and furious was the word.
   So around 6 p.m. last night we all anxiously watched the storm approach. Rugs, shelters, awnings, outdoor kitchens, etc. were put away in anticipation of high winds and heavy rain. We nervously watched the dark clouds from the south as I quickly cooked chicken breasts on our small grill while Dana Googled the weather.

   Then the winds and lightening came and the tornado siren sounded, so we ran to the game room,  a small concrete building with a single pool table and pinball machines that lined the walls. My family huddled between two pinball machines. Quinn and Jolee were crying; Dana held their hands as I stood nearby...documenting the experience with my G11 until the electricity went out, leaving us in the dark.
   The storm passed quickly, but it left behind a flooded campground and two very emotional little girls who begged to go home. So we did.
    I was surprised there were only a few dozen campers (out of the hundreds who where there) who sought shelter in the game room. Don't people realize that tornadoes pick up campers and throw them around like Tonka toys?
   Maybe I'm a more aware of the power of tornadoes because I've covered quite a few tornado aftermaths, including the last one that ripped through Xenia years ago.
     Warning: If tornado sirens go off, find shelter in places other than campers, cars and under trees. We hid between two arcade games. Oh, how ironic is that?

This girl watched the storm from a pool table. Moments later the lights went out and she huddled with others on the floor.

Quinn, Jolee and Dana head back to the camper after the storm passes.

Too wet for fun. We went home 30 minutes after the storm passed.

Flames, fun and firefighters

This is what I first saw.

   I was running at Swancreek Metropark this morning when I saw black smoke arising. My first thought was that my house was on fire, even though I live miles away. Then I remembered area firefighters were training at two abandoned brick homes nearby.
   Today is my day off, but as I pulled away from the park and passed the training site, I couldn't help myself. I turned around, grabbed my Canon G11, and started shooting.
   I plan to share these photos with the firefighters. These guys are lifesavers, after all.
   If you've read my previous posts, you might know I'm a huge safety freak when it comes to fire prevention and safety. So, don't forget to install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors everywhere, and change your batteries on the ones you do have.  
   Now that my public service announcement is complete - enjoy the photos.

This is the first house.

This is the second house.

Thank you, firefighters!
By the way, this photo is not staged, as some have thought. It's called attention to detail.

Blog Post Consolidation

   Boring alert: The next 20 posts (a semester's worth) are really boring if you don't care about journalism. I had to write them as part of my required homework for my master's class, The Social Role of Mass Media.
   I had a separate blog for the course, but decided to consolidate it with this blog for a few reasons.  First, the social role blog only had two followers, so very few people knew it existed. I don't want that material to disappear into a big black Blogosphere hole, which brings me to the second reason I consolidated. I'm the first to admit the material is dry as a bone and not very entertaining. However, it's vital information that I don't want to forget. In fact, I think it's so important I hope to share it with more than just two people.
   It feels good to jump-start this blog again, which includes my New York media trip last summer. This blog has been in hiatus for a long time, and now it's back.

Lessons learned

   This is my final blog for this course. I shall miss studying all things social media, but that's the beauty of education...it continues at our own will.

Here a few highlights I learned from this course:

1. The act of doing journalism is a social responsibility that contributes to the democracy of its citizens. A free press enables citizens to stay informed about their local communities, government and school systems, as well as what's happening around the world.
2. Journalists are no longer the sole provider of news. Because of technology, like blogs, Twitter and mobile devices, traditional consumers of news now have the capacity to supply it.
3. Because it's so easy to disseminate news in this electronic age, it's more important now more than ever to teach the traditional principles and standards of journalism. This point is what separates the journalists from the citizen communicators.
4. Journalists can have feelings, too. We can advocate for a cause as long as it's for the good of its citizens. This includes synthesizing complex information, as well as teaching readers about certain topics that otherwise would be hard to understand. This strays a little from the “be objective” role we traditionally hold.
5. Journalism educators have a very important mission of teaching media literacy to every student we can get to listen, including those students who have no intention of entering the journalism field. Citizen journalists now outnumber the legacy journalists, so it's no longer just enough to focus on those who want to be journalists when they grow up.

• One more thing, the Elements of Journalism rocks!

    Everything I learned this semester is sinking in. One major change I'm thinking about implementing next semester is creating a Twitter account for the Intro to Photojournalism class. They're already blogging, but I wonder if that's enough. I'm also considering developing a media literary summer course for the community college.

    Thanks for being a great teacher, John! Your law and ethics classes have helped make me the teacher I am today!

My Blogosphere

    I want to share last week's assignment before I sign off from this course. We had to develop a futures wheel on blogging. A futures wheel is just a fancy term for charting how we see the future of a given topic. We were encouraged to “let our imagination roll.”

I created a solar system based on the Blogoshere. Yeah, it's way out there, but we must not forget to have fun while we learn. Let your own imagination go wild as you read my own silly planet chart. One fellow student suggested that paparazzi be astroids. Now that's funny!

   My futures wheel is similar to a vibrant, active solar system. I will refer to this universe as my Blogosphere. There are eight planets that rotate around the sun. Each planet represents an outer ring into the universe.

    Hop on the Blogosphere social shuttle to visit or live on any of these planets, including the sun!

The sun = Planet Educator. Let's start with an energy source: The sun. The sun is 109 times as big as the earth. Without the sun, there would be no life on earth. Earth would be dark, cold and barren, and the other planets would be in perpetual blackness.

In my Blogosphere, the sun represents journalism education. The sun is home to The Sun Academy, where journalism teachers and advisers harness the sun's energy to teach students everything they need to know about journalism.

Journalism educators here have their work cut out for them, though. Not only is it their mission to teach traditional journalism values, like ethics, transparency, balance and verification, but they also must keep up with the most recent technology. Newspapers no longer exist, so journalists disseminate all of their news throughout the entire solar system using social media.

Mercury = Planet Student Bloggers. Mercury is the first planet in the solar system. It's one of the smallest planets, but it's the first! This is a popular communal planet where graduates from The Sun Academy go to live. They stay in shared housing while they hone their writing and ethical skills. They live here until they are ready to move to Venus, where good paying jobs with great benefits are plentiful.

Venus = Planet Legacy Bloggers. All working journalists who live on this planet maintain professional and personal blogs. There's a standard, industry-wide code of ethics derived from the Elements of Journalism (101^st revised edition), which eliminates much of the current confusion when using social media tools. This planet is nicknamed The Fourth Estate. Because all journalists here have jobs, they also own their own hover crafts and homes!

Earth = Planet First Amendment. Remember when Earth was the only planet in the solar system that sustained life? Now, thanks to artificial air and water sources, the other eight planets are thriving with life. But earth is a special place because of its historical value. Not only is this planet known for the creation of humans, it's also where the First Amendment was created.

Yes, this 18^th Century document still exists today! So, because of First Amendment, all legacy and citizen bloggers throughout the entire universe exercise their right to free speech, and censorship is banned.

Mars = Planet Truth. This is home of Poytner Institute and headquarters for the Solar System World JEA. Conveniently located between the planets First Amendment and Citizens, Planet Truth is a popular seminar destination for blogger educators and students.

Jupiter = Planet Citizens. This is the largest planet in the universe, and it's where most citizens live now. Citizens subscribe to their favorite news bloggers from throughout the solar system. Because of the mind-boggling high volume of bloggers available, there is universe-wide accreditation system. This helps to alert citizens when a blog originates from the Planet Uranus.

Saturn = Planet Interesting and Relevant. The inhabitants on this planet are known for their artsy blogging. These crazy newsmakers go above and beyond the 5Ws and the H. Saturnites think outside hemisphere by using short story forms and advanced multimedia. Need inspiration? This is a favorite vacation destination for news bloggers who are tired of the same old way of telling a story. The inhabitants on this planet don't mind sharing their skills and enthusiasm with others. In fact, bloggers from other planets are encouraged to enroll in one of the many famous creative blogging schools here.

Uranus = Planet Misinformation. This makes sense, doesn't it? You know what happens when you assume... This is where bloggers are exiled when they are are caught blogging misinformation, rumor, innuendo and lies. It's way out there in the universe, where it belongs.

Neptune = Planet New Media. This is planet where social scientists are working on the new media that hasn't been even been invented yet. This planet is light years away, but as fast as technology is changing, it won't take long to arrive. We just need to go around Uranus to get there.