"...but there’s always time for the paper."

{via: From Me To You.}

I am working on posts right now about breakups and finding au pair jobs abroad.  I hope to do more posts on various topics after finals are done (two weeks!) and I am settled in Germany.

Do you have any other topics you'd like me to post on? (My inner journalist loves discovering new information to share!)

xoxo-

p.s. Have you read online magazine The Violet, yet?  It's beautiful, insightful & leaves you feeling truly inspired. And you know what else? It was created by the lovely Camilla of the blog champagne bubbles!

day four: newsies.

this semester i was a design chief for our university newspaper, the university daily kansan.  it was my third semester working for the paper but i was pretty worried about being a design chief.  i mean, let's be honest. i've designed 95% of my blog with microsoft paint. (the other 5%: picnik.com) i even got a microsoft paint award! see last year's award here.

[which reads: "because if she had it her way, she would have done the entire paper in microsoft paint."]

but, the editors thought i had it in me.

the first few shifts were terrifying/exciting & incredibly exhausting.  this semester i had an 8am class, worked at my main job, (the university's german department) and would quickly run by the grocery store to pick up a lovely microwavable meal for that night's dinner before arriving for my design shift at 4p.m. the entire shifts you are designing non-stop.  of course there is the occasional late content or waiting on your computer to upload imaged files. (seriously, had our computers not been such grumps we could have been out of there by midnight easily) - but sometimes, i think it was just a sign that we should take a moment to breathe, stretch & laugh, lots. 

[twizzler mustaches are deliciously charming.]

i am so glad i took the risk of such a big job. 
i learned so much about the news industry, designing with real design programs (InDesign is my new bff.) & had a blast doing it. 


i love my fellow newsies. they are amazingly hard-working, dedicated, supportive, talented people.  i am so inspired by their passion & can totally see myself someday saying to my kids: "Oh, I worked with them before they were famous journalists, way back in 2010." i'll totally brag about it. 


while the 10+ hour shifts would sometimes wear me out beyond belief, and my horribly rocky friendship with Photoshop, i wouldn't change a thing. 


& this song will forever take me back to the newsroom - the frantic moments before finishing the paper, how we would play it loud to instill hopes of returning to our homes before 1 a.m. 

but how really, the newsroom was our home for a semester.

xo-

day three.

this semester i had to take the course First Amendment & Society. the amount of information i learned in this class was incredible.

though it was at 8am, i really enjoyed every lesson. i could hardly believe how much i didn't know about the importance of the U.S. first amendment, and how much i tend to take it for granted.

[notes notes & more notes.]

it's a fascinating amendment which brings up a plethora of tricky cases and i loved analyzing each of them. so much that for 1.3 seconds i seriously considered going to law school...but then i saw something shiny...

here are some of my favorite quotes on the freedom of speech--

“I have always been among those who believed that the greatest freedom of speech was the greatest safety, because if a man is a fool, the best thing to do is to encourage him to advertise the fact by speaking.”-Woodrow T. Wilson.

“The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support the rights of people you don't agree with.”-Eleanor Holmes Norton.

this graphic on the current state of the freedom of the press in the world is astounding.

i never even realized how lucky i am to be able to participate in my desired career as a journalist/writer--while some attempting the same face substantial punishment and censorship.

so i sign off this post the same way my professor did in our last email: have a good day & "remember to stand up for free expression".

original graphic credit.

xo-