Life Update, etc.

So, it has been a long time since I blogged anything. Like, last December a long time. A lot has happened in the past couple of months, so I should probably blog about it for those who don't know, and for myself, for when I'm old and can't remember my own name. It's Jonathan, sir, your name is Jonathan.

First, I went back to school. I have 4 classes this semester, but with two of them having weekly labs, separate from the main classes, it feels more like 6. One class is kind of a continuation of a class from last semester, it's kind of a hands on graphic design course. I do know quite a few things being taught, but with the way the programs change so rapidly, it's good to have a refresher.

The next class is a video production/editing class. I kind of think this will be the class that keeps me busiest. By the end of the semester I will have need to have turned in at least 4 videos, with the footage from everything totaling at least 14 minutes. Only 4 videos doesn't sound like too much, but there's a lot that goes into each video, not the least of which is coming up with ideas, and I have to do them all myself. Yikes, I need to get busy on that.

The next class is more videos, but this time with a focus on television news, and writing for the web and television. There's not too many videos, I don't think, but there's a lot of writing. Hopefully this class won't be so hard, I don't have too many problems with writing.

Last but not least, is my favorite class this semester, Creative Writing. So far we haven't written too much more than our short writing prompts, but out of those I've got at least one, if not two poems, and I never would have guessed in a million years I could do that. I still think it's a fluke, and I doubt much more will come of it, but the TA told me I looked like a poet, so who knows. We'll see what happens. For our first big workshop I elected to turn in some previous work instead of coming up with something all new. We had been talking about creative non-fiction, and some of the examples we read were almost completely fiction, with elements of truth, and the way the teacher explained it sounded exactly like something I had written before, so I turned in three of my Twist Ending stories. They were actually a pretty big hit, with some people even wanting more! Well, I do have more... :)

Outside of class I have been pretty busy with photography for the paper. I've consistently had at least one assignment a week, with some weeks having two or three! I've photographed both the student government and city government meetings now, the latter of which was pretty boring, but the student government can get quite lively, especially on the night they voted to ban e-cigarettes. One guy I thought was going to cry, he did NOT want e-cigarettes banned! I have some pictures I can post that I've taken, but I think I'll save that for another post. I will TRY not to go too long without a post!

The last bit of news, for those of you who don't know, I am now a writer for the Rotoscopers animation blog! I write news and reviews of my favorite animated series. It's a pretty sweet job. It's not a paying job, but it's so much fun I don't care. It's good experience should I need writing experience in a professional setting someday.

So far I've done three articles. News is kind of slow this time of year, with new episodes being few and far between, but when something happens I'll be on it!
The first was a news release about the return of Gravity Falls.
http://www.rotoscopers.com/2015/01/22/season-2-of-gravity-falls-returns-on-february-16/
The second was a recap/review of the premiere episode of the new show, Star vs. the Forces of Evil.
http://www.rotoscopers.com/2015/01/23/recap-review-of-new-disney-channel-series-star-vs-the-forces-of-evil-s1e1/
The last is a review of the last episode of Gravity Falls.
(Do not read it if you don't want to be MAJORLY spoiled!)
http://www.rotoscopers.com/2015/02/23/recap-review-of-gravity-falls-northwest-mansion-mystery-s2e10/

That's all my news for now. Hopefully It won't be another two months before I post again!

Iowa State Daily Articles

As most of you know, I am now a photographer for the Daily instead of a reporter. I've had a few photography assignments, which I will eventually post, but for now I figured it was about time I made an archive of the stories I wrote last semester. I really should have done this a long time ago, but better late than never, right?

My first story was about some design students who had competed in a nationwide contest, and had won.
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_ddaa34ee-a19b-11e3-907f-0019bb2963f4.html

My second story was about some more design students who flew to France to study fabric.
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_d4007902-b399-11e3-b119-001a4bcf887a.html

My third story was about the "Campanile Challenge" which brought awareness to homelessness on campus.
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_32a6de78-bb7a-11e3-9334-0019bb2963f4.html

My fourth story was about four students who won a prestigious scholarship.
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_8a21990c-c013-11e3-a8e6-001a4bcf887a.html

My fifth story was about a professor in the design school who won a service award.
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_40f46e92-c5a1-11e3-ada3-0019bb2963f4.html

My last story was about a fasion show that created gowns out of garbage.
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_b946ddd0-cb23-11e3-baa8-0019bb2963f4.html

I did have two other stories, but one was never published, as it was written at the same time as the VEISHA riot, and was understandably pushed back again and again, and eventually scrapped. The other story was for a magazine handed out on campus for new students and was never published online.

Anyway, as far as I know, these are the only stories I'll be writing for the paper. From now on it will just be photography, and I'll get those up eventually.

Pics From Last Semester

I realized today, that it was halfway through the month and I had not posted anything at all yet. It has been so long since I posted anything that I'm surprised no one has come to revoke my blogging license. Oh, that's not a thing? Good to know.

Anyway, I have a few pictures I need to post from last semester. Nothing too exciting, just the buildings I frequented most.

Hamilton Hall. This is where I had my Magazine Publication class.

Troxel Hall. This is where I had my History of Multimedia class.

I just realized that I neglected to photograph Lagomarcino Hall where I had my intro to Journalism class. Instead, here's a picture of Central Campus.

I also had a history of Modern Art class at the Design Building, but I have posted a picture of that in the past. I never took a new one.

Here's the old one.

Hamilton Hall is also where the Iowa State Daily offices are held, and where I took all my reporter training classes.

And as I became a reporter too, this is where I spent most of my time last semester.

And that's all I've got for now. I'll try to update a few more times this month, but I will be heading for Colorado with my cousins on Friday, so I doubt there will be much in that span of time.

I'm A Reporter!

Tuesday afternoon I have an intro to journalism class. This past week, one of the heads of the Iowa State Daily, our school newspaper, came to speak to the class, basically to recruit new writers. He explained that while the classes we're taking are important, they won't mean hardly anything compared to real work experience, and for those of us who want to be journalists in the future, it is in our own best interests to start getting some of that experience now.

I had known that there was a school newspaper, but I didn't know anything about it, and I didn't know anything about how to join. I had thought about looking into it later, after I'd been in journalism longer than just one week, but when he came into class looking for people to join, I decided not to wait. I applied the next day, and I had an interview this afternoon. There wasn't really even any question on will I or won't I get the job. He basically said that if we want the experience, they will find a place for us. Training starts on Monday and I am so excited! This is almost like a dream come true, but it's sort of like a dream I never knew I wanted.

As I've said before I have never really thought about being anything other than an artist. Until last semester I had never even thought about being a journalist myself, which is odd, because some of my favorite fictional characters have been journalists ever since I was a kid. My two favorite Superheros are journalists in their day-to-day lives, Superman, is a newspaper reporter as Clark Kent, and Spider-Man is a newspaper photographer as Peter Parker. When I was into the Left Behind series, my favorite character was Buck Williams, another newspaper reporter. When I was obsessed with Smallville, my favorite character was Chloe Sullivan, school newspaper, then later Daily Planet reporter. I always thought that being a reporter would be a fun job, but I also thought of it as something that other people did, not something I could ever do. Sort of like how I knew that cities like Chicago and New York were real, but not places I could ever visit. I was weird like that.

So anyway, I am now a reporter at the Iowa State Daily, and eventually this will lead to being a photographer as well. He told me that he'll have me talk to the photography department, and that being both a journalist and a photographer would be great, because I can shoot for all my own stories. I will keep you updated on how everything goes. This could be the first step toward something huge!