It’s that time again

 

Hey guys, so this morning I had the privilege of waking up at the lovely hour of 5:30 a.m. to get ready to go and take my very last final, and now I’m sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to Los Angeles! I’m heading down once again to visit family and take a much-needed break from a really intense term. Usually I would have three months off from school but I am going to be in summer session this year so I only have a week of vacation, so I’ve got to make the most of it! Plus, I’ll be heading home to Hawaii after summer school is finished, so I really can’t complain. Although the beaches in California aren’t nearly as great as those in Hawaii, I’ve got to get in the water, so I’m bringing a bikini and a new book I picked up, I’ll let you guys know how it is! I plan on being near a computer for work purposes (yes, I’m working during vacation, but it’s not always time to play!), but if you miss me too much, you can always follow me on my twitter or instagram. I love you guys!

If you’ve ever been to California (preferably the southern area), what are some things I should do while I’m here?

Happy first anniversary! (Here’s to many more)

 

One year ago today, I sat down at my computer and typed “wordpress” into the search bar and wrote my first blog post. I didn’t think anyone would ever read my posts or actually enjoy anything I had to say, I just started writing for me. Over the course of this past year, my blog has reached the computers of thousands of people and I’ve gotten a number of loyal followers who I’m very thankful for. I’ve received feedback and lovely comments and mounds of advice from some of the most talented people in the world, and I’m so thankful for that. A year ago I started writing for me, but now I’m writing for an audience and it is the most heartwarming feeling. I thank you for such an incredible year and you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m going to be around for a long, long time. I love you guys, this smile is for you!

Pulitzer Prize winner Sara Ganim shares five lessons that helped her succeed

Just a short time ago, there was a huge scandal at Pennsylvania State University involving accusations of sexual abuse against Jerry Sandusky. Sara Ganim was the initial correspondant on the case and with a team of several reporters, she was able to compile sources and eventually the story caught on to major news organizations. It wasn’t long before Ganim became a household name, she was praised for her diligent reporting and was offered numerous jobs, and traveled the world to speak at journalism conferences and various universities and schools. However, what is most incredible about this story is that because of her game-changing investigative reporting, Ganim was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and became the third youngest person in history to achieve such an award.

A few months ago she gave a speech at the Foster Conference of Distinguished Writers at Penn State, where she spoke about her journey and offered advice to aspiring journalists. She provided the audience with five things she learned during her time at Penn State as well as in her career, and although she was speaking to an audience of journalists, I think these lessons can be helpful to everyone, regardless of their major or occupation.

Sara Ganim’s five tips for success:

1. It matters who you work for. Ganim stresses that she would not have gotten to report on the Sandusky story had she worked for a larger company. Because she worked under a boss who believed in her abilities at a smaller paper, she was able to publish her own stories and she ultimately learned much more than she would have at another job. It’s all about your bosses, colleagues and the connections you have. The brand name or the masthead is not always the most important aspect of a job.
2. Don’t underestimate that people will lie to you. Ganim explained that while reporting on the Sandusky story, she resorted to walking around the neighborhood, knocking on doors and found that nearly all the people she spoke to fabricated mounds of lies. You have to be aware of when people are lying to you and then you have to move on and not lose sight of what your end goal is, because there are a lot of people who will want to sway your opinion and change your story to protect your subject.
3. Social media matters. Ganim used numerous social media sites and applications throughout the development of her story. She used twitter as a means to communicate with her news director as well as converse with other reporters, because it was a faster and more open means of communication than email or phone calls.
4. Move the story forward beyond the obvious. Ganim emphasized this point in her speech because it is something many journalists fail to do. She stated that when she was going around knocking on peoples’ doors, she found that other news stations and reporters had been talking to the same people, so she decided to go out of her way and find sources no one else had spoken to. Speaking to people that no one else was speaking to will give your story more depth and originality, and will ultimately have an edge on competing stories.
5. Lie on your timecard. Being a journalist is not a 9-5 p.m. occupation and if that’s something you’re looking for in a job, you’re looking in the wrong place. A journalist’s job never stops, there will always be a story to write, a person to interview and a meeting to attend. You have to absolutely love what you do in order to be successful at it.

Suicide: Things I wish I would have said

I understand that like all living things, humans are born, they live their lives in any fashion they please and then they die. All lives are different and this interests me so incredibly much that I could read books on life, cultures and places for hours on end and never grow tired of it. There are so many different races, cultures, places and occupations on the planet. There are so many modes of transportation and methods in which you can live your life. You can go to college or you can be a farmer in the Himalayas, you can drop out of high school or you can sit in a cubicle for nine hours a day. You can decide to settle down and have a family with your childhood love or you can spend your life trying to find Atlantis.

There is literally no limit to what you can and cannot achieve during your time on this planet, but I think something most people fail to recognize is that we only have a short amount of time; if we’re lucky we’re here for the full 100 years, but some of us aren’t given that much time. Some die as babies in a hospital incubator, some 12-year-olds die in car accidents on their way home from piano lessons, some die by their own hand, some die during childbirth, some have heart attacks and some die of very old age. They all die, but they also all lived. This, I understand. We’re on earth where we’re subjected to danger and life-threatening instances, which can ultimately end our lives within an instant.

However, what I don’t understand is those who commit suicide, those who consciously land on the decision to end their own life, to strip themselves of the tremendous gift and opportunity that life embodies. We are given one thing in this life and there is nothing else besides that (that we know of, there could be a world after this one, a life after this one, no one knows, but for this sake, we’ll pretend like there is no afterlife.) Before you’re born you’re nothing and after you die you’re nothing. It is during the time you’re alive that you create relationships, make memories and leave imprints on other people’s lives. Those people who you touch during your time on this planet will remember you long after you’re gone, but what will you do once you’re gone? Why would you want to test those limits and push the boundaries of life by bringing death upon yourself? People are allowed to have their own opinions, make their own decisions and live their own lives, but if you’re presented with life, which is the greatest gift someone can possibly receive, why give that away? This is the concept of “the circle of life” that doesn’t make sense to me.

I’ve had three friends who have commit suicide in the last three years and to this day I don’t understand their motives, I don’t know what could possibly drive someone so far over the edge that they feel the only option is to give up and throw away their gift of life. I’ve sat for countless hours and tried to make sense of their deaths but I’ve come up with absolutely nothing. It’s kind of like when you’re trying to write an essay for a class on a book you’ve never read; you won’t get very far and if you do, your thesis will not make the slightest bit of sense. Sure, they were heartbroken and at a loss and plagued by mental health issues and  feeling hopeless and lost without a sense of direction, but taking your own life?

Suicide is never the answer, it’s really just a question that should have never been asked. The answer is to find help, to seek support and to surround yourself with a positive, uplifting, understanding group of people who will lead you back to a stable place where you can begin to live your life again. You need inspiration, a sense of motivation, you need to see the world.

Write yourself a letter of all the things you hate about being alive, things you despise about yourself and the things that really drive you to the edge. Then, take a trip somewhere, anywhere, visit as many places as you can and see as much of the world as you can. You will come to realize that the world you live in really isn’t that big, there are millions of people who are living their lives, some are fighting for their lives and a lot are struggling much worse than you are. The truth is, you may “hate” your life but there are millions of people who would love to be you. There are so many people who would love to be leading the life you live, and you’re sitting around resenting your existence.

I’m not saying I know everything, because that is false. There is a lot that I don’t know, I haven’t been to a lot of places, but I do know one thing. I know that you don’t really want to die, I know that you want to travel the world, fall in love, get a Master’s degree, build a boat, walk your son to first grade and be there for your parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. I know you do. Think about all the things you will miss out on if you end your life before it’s supposed to be over, think of all the things you have yet to achieve, think of all the smiles you haven’t smiled and the flowers you haven’t smelled. Think of all these things and then enjoy the rest of your beautiful life because you deserve all the years in the world. This life is too incredible for you to end it over a temporary feeling, and it is temporary, I promise you.

These are all the things I wish I could have said to my friends while they were still alive. I don’t regret anything, but I do wish I hadn’t missed my opportunity before it was too late. Don’t miss your opportunity, if you or someone you know is going through a rough time, speak out before your words cease to exist. Life is a beautiful gift, but it’s much more lovely with you in it.

Review: True Fear by Blake Johnson

Hey guys, so as I said before, I’m starting a new section on my blog where I review your writings, whether they be short stories, excerpts, poetry, anything! I really enjoy reading all of your work and this serves as a sort of open discussion, which will allow other readers to offer advice and feedback to help the writer. So please, keep the criticism constructive and don’t forget to keep smiling!

This review is a little different than the last because it is poetry, but it is wonderful, nonetheless. Before I talk about it, you guys should give it a read because you will probably fall in love with it just as I have:

True Fear

Blake Johnson

Grasp a handful of dust and know fear

Know that the grainy sand is your only ally

Even the filth of the desert deserts you

As the fragments slip through bony fingers

The sun is the greatest trickster

Contorting your penumbra with each passing moment

Though the shadow grows and changes

Its singularity remains the same

True fear is to trust and be betrayed

True fear is to love and be spurned

True fear is to walk the wastes of life

True fear is to be left with only a handful of dust

As you can tell from my other blog posts, you can tell that I love celebrating life, living in the moment and making the most of every day. So naturally, I am so intrigued by this poem. Johnson delivers such a strong message in his writing and I feel like the connection between the first and last lines really tie everything together and after reading it, I found myself to be speechless. That’s when you know something is great; when it completely takes your breath away. I enjoyed that he compared fear to dust, because really when someone is left in complete fear it is oftentimes because they have run out of options or are feeling hopeless. I enjoyed that he included metaphors to compare life and fear to sand, deserts and dust. When people are feeling hopeless and are having a hard time in their lives, they’ve hit the bottom. I suppose that’s where the phrase, “hit rock bottom,” comes from. Also, to be fearful is to be unaware or anxious of what will happen next, in other words, fearing change and the concept that things will never be the way they once were. Johnson’s inclusion of the sun serves as a metaphor to change and new beginnings, since the sun signals a new day and a fresh start.

Although this poem is short, and I would have loved to read more of Johnson’s words, he certainly delivers his message. This was a pleasure to read and I know he would love to hear your feedback, so leave your comments below! Also, if you check out his blog, you’ll see that he has a lot of upcoming projects and once he reaches 100 followers, he will be releasing the digital version of his first novel! I would love to read more of Johnson’s work, so let’s support him in his endeavor!

I need your input!

Hey guys,

So my third year of college is winding down, which means I have a lot more time to be blogging and doing other things that are important to me! This year was great, but I’m glad to have a break and prepare to begin my last, and best year of college. I just wanted to take this opportunity to talk about a few things I had on my mind, and I hope you guys are going great!

If you haven’t already noticed, I’ve recently changed my blog’s appearance and theme. However, I don’t like that the font is so large and I’m thinking about changing it. What do you guys think about it?

Secondly, lately I’ve been receiving emails about some topics people wanted me to write about, but I think if you post those suggestions in the comments below, we could have an open discussion about it and see which topics are most popular. Of course, I could always just write about everything, right? So if you have something you want me to talk about, if you have a writing or a short story you want me to do a review on or if you want to guest blog for me, please let me know! I’m open to everything.

Lastly, I am going to Los Angeles at the end of this week for a short vacation. I am hoping I will be able to blog while I’m there, but I honestly don’t know my schedule yet. I will definitely post a recap of everything that I did during my trip and I might make another video, but if you want to keep up with me while I’m away, you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram and/or Facebook!

I really appreciate your input, so don’t be afraid to speak your mind. You guys are all so beautiful, don’t ever forget it!

 

May Instagram Update

 

I don’t know about you, but I think May went by way too quickly! I feel like it was only a few days ago when we were all making fun of Justin Timberlake’s “It’s gonna be May” memes, and now it’s summer! 

So, the month of May was a good month for me. I was the busiest I’ve ever been and I was stressed out and sleep-deprived, but I made a lot of great memories with some people who I will be in touch with for a really long time, and that’s what life’s all about, right? I attended many University events including speeches, street fairs, concerts and block parties. I also helped raise suicide awareness and prevention and I volunteered during the sexual assault awareness week. I got really involved and I got so much out of it. If you haven’t noticed, I just really enjoy helping other people. I really like making people smile, and knowing that I have made a difference or and impact on their lives, is all that matters to me. 

Also this month marked three years since I graduated from high school. I can’t believe that it’s already been that long, I feel like I just graduated! I spent a lot of time going through old photos and reliving good memories with friends during my final months as a high school student, nostalgia is a great feeling (sometimes). 

I have also been spending quite a bit of time outdoors, which has been making me feel not only healthier, but happier as well. Like I’ve said before, Oregon has so many trails and beautiful places to visit, it seems like a waste to not go out and enjoy the fresh air once in awhile.

Lastly, I got pretty crafty this month! Knuckle rings or midi-rings are really popular right now, however, everywhere I look these rings cost anywhere from $30 to $125, and let’s face it, I’m not made of money. So I decided to make my own knuckle rings, and I’m really happy with how they turned out! **If you want to know how I made them, leave some comments below and I’ll make a tutorial.

Anyway, I had a great month and I wrapped up my third year of college with amazing grades, so I’m really happy! What was the best thing about this month for you?

Café Writing: The imperfections

Today I woke up really early and had the strange urge to clean my house. I keep several boxes under my bed, where I keep old letters, notes and photos. As I was cleaning out these boxes, I came across some crumpled up napkins with scribbled letters on them, and immediately I was reminded of a day when I sat in a café and wrote. I suppose this was the end product.

Frugal landscapes and unaltered ends encapsulate my entire being. Frigid air thrusts itself upon every bone in my body. I walk alone in the distance. My mind is racing. Cracks in the abyss mark their territory among the empty and solaced winter. I run my hands through my hair and without warning, tears begin to fall. Letting myself go, I weep beneath the trees, an empty field and thumping heart are my only companions. Breathing grows difficult as the sun disappears over the horizon, one last goodbye, a final farewell. Daylight is gone.

I remember writing letters to you in my lonely apartment. Sitting on the floor with a blanket wrapped around me, I wrote symphonies and metaphors to an empty address. I spent countless hours pouring my soul into a vacant perspective that will go unread. You never received my letters. I have hundreds hidden away beneath my bed, tucked away in a box, sealed from the world. My shame protrudes and horrors ensue when the thought of you crosses my mind.

I can write of you for the rest of my life and still have more to say. I can smile for hours on end and still find something about you that brings me joy. I can stare at you for days without a single blink and still find beauty in your imperfections.

Review: An untitled, yet incredibly written work by Jackson Williams

Hello my lovely readers, I have been absent for some time due to numerous finals and an incredibly stressful work schedule that has taken over my life, but I’m back now! After a few requests from some aspiring writers, I am going to start a review series where I offer feedback and open things up to discussion in hopes to give advice and inspire the writer.

This week I’m reviewing an excerpt from one of Jackson Williams’ latest novels, which is so new it is still untitled. I have been following him for quite some time now, and from what I have read, he is incredibly talented. We all have that favorite author who seems to speak to us on a personal level, someone who we can identify with, and that is Williams. I’m not completely sure if it’s because we are so close in age, or because we are both suffering in the rainy, Pacific Northwest, but whatever it is, I’ve completely fallen in love with his writing.

Williams opens up the scene with a dramatic blow to the head … literally. “Consider our hero: an hour ago he was sitting in his small apartment alone, imagining and pondering and for obvious reasons replaying over and over and over a scenario where he grabs the little pistol that he kept for protection against various vague threats that had small chances of coming true and, then, with an air of finality, puts the little barrel of the pistol in his mouth and pulls the trigger, just like that and oh so easy, sending a chaotic spray of skull and brain matter against the wall behind him…” Now, you tell me that you don’t want to keep reading after an opening such as this. Williams has a certain power over his readers that draws them in and puts them in a chokehold until the very end. He continues to set up a scene where the main character or “our hero” ponders life and death, introduces age-old questions and introduces himself in a way that can only be done by a number of talented writers.

Suicide, drugs and vulgar language are three of the most sensitive subjects that a lot of people tend to avoid when writing or reading anything in modern society. However, with the right context and the means to deliver such topics, your writing can be successful. Williams samples from these three elements in his draft, which can be difficult to deliver to an audience, but with his fluidity and metaphorical stances, these elements have no negative affects on the writing. In fact, the vulgarity and substances tend to add to the ambiance and help form the characters.

Lastly, near the end of this excerpt, the author notes that the hero is, in fact, himself. “As soon as he had this feeling of awareness, mixed in with drugs and the deep darkness that none of us ever want to face in our own lives, Jackson Williams — that would be me — began to become convinced that he was living inside of some poorly written satire that was devised over a weekend, a true hack-job…” This truly is an inception-esque twist in his writing, where it left me questioning what I had just read previously in the excerpt. After becoming informed that the writer is also the main character, I immediately felt a sense of closeness to Williams. Needless to say, I don’t know how much of the story is actually related to his life, but I felt like I got to know him on a deeper level, nonetheless.

I’ve read this excerpt nearly a dozen times, and not because I’m writing a review on it, but because every time I reread it, a tiny part of me is hoping that the author has added more to it. This peek inside his book left me thirsting for more, and if a writer can get their reader hooked in roughly 1,000 words, they’re doing something right.

Please, leave your comments, suggestions and feedback for Jackson Williams below:

Becoming the best version of yourself

Hey guys,

I don’t know if you’re as obsessed with the Internet as I am, but I find myself spending a lot of my free time watching way too many YouTube videos. I’m subscribed mainly to beauty gurus on YouTube because, as many of you know, I love makeup and I love watching tutorials and testing out new products. However, I am also subscribed to a man by the name of Elliott Hulse, who posts videos talking about how to become the strongest version of yourself both mentally and physically. His videos are extremely motivational and I watch them daily to keep my spirits up. Anyway, as I was looking through some of his videos today, I found one that I think will be very beneficial to a lot of girls (and guys) on the topic of what constitutes “real beauty” and it made me question the people I’ve been with and the reasons why I exercise.

In this video, he makes a lot of good points that are worth repeating over and over in your head until you believe them, because every word is true. If you are with someone who tells you that you need to change the way you look, whether it be the way you apply your makeup, the clothes you wear, or even criticizes the extra skin that hangs off your back. You need to leave them. Plain and simple. No man or woman should criticize the person they are with. I may be wrong, but you are with that one person because you fell in love with their mind, their strength and their personality, right? Perhaps you’re compatible with them and you share the same interests and your families get along well. Although those traits are hard to find in another person, what’s even more difficult is to find a person who will completely accept who you are, despite your age, weight or complexion.
Hulse stresses that people fall in love with mental attributes but because of the society we live in, people easily become obsessed with the physical appearances.
The next part is the real kicker: if you’re with someone solely because you like how their body looks, then you don’t love them. You may love those physical attributes on that person, but you aren’t in love with someone until you can fall in love with their mind and accept each and every flaw and fall in love with those too.
There are far too many people who beat themselves up over what others may think of them. There are way too many people who spend hours and hours in the gym and punish themselves for wanting a milkshake and fries once in a while, and because of that, a lot of people walk around hating themselves. I used to be just like that, until I realized that what’s really beautiful and what will really last in a relationship, is a strong mind, a love for yourself and an acceptance of others. You won’t get anywhere if you spend your days continuously trying to change other people because they don’t live up to your idea of “beauty” or “perfection.” Learn to accept other people and other people will be more accepting of you. And if you spend your days wishing you were thinner or wishing you could turn back the clocks and not eat that whole burger, just stop. Please, get up from your computer, walk up to a mirror and realize how beautiful you really are. Stop wishing you didn’t have freckles, because freckles are so unique. The bags under your eyes make you look so strong and it shows that you care about your work, because obviously you spent a little too much time typing that essay last night, am I right? So, you don’t have rock hard, chiseled abs. So what? A lot of people don’t. The celebrity on the cover of the magazine you just bought doesn’t even look that way because it’s been edited so much I bet they can’t even recognize themselves, and I’m 99% positive that if you edited a photo of yourself into Photoshop, you would look just like them. But, you don’t need to go through all that trouble because you have something they don’t have. You have an inner beauty, you have an intelligence and a strength that outweighs all of the physical attributes created in Photoshop.
Stop comparing yourselves to others, quit wishing you looked like someone else, don’t hate yourself anymore, because I can assure you there is someone in the world who is dying to look just like you. You only get one life to live and you’re going to be in the same body for that lifetime, so you might as well get to like yourself, because what’s not to love?

Smile, you’re worth it.