My Semester in Review

My search topic was about the effect of gun control on the amount of gun violence. I wanted to know if there was a correlation between the two. All you have to do is turn on the TV to hear both sides of the argument, but neither side was all that convincing. I wanted to find out for myself.

Newtown

Credit: Newtown Bee/ ZUMA Press

This topic is very personal. Last fall, I was interning for NBC News in Washington DC. On the day of the Newtown shootings, it was my job to find out as much as I could. When I started hearing reports that Ryan Lanza was the shooter, (turns out it was his brother, Adam) I tried finding family members. Eventually I came across an old school directory. I found the name under Lanza and picked up the phone. Keep in mind, nobody knew at this point that Adam Lanza had killed his mother in his home.

The phone rang. And rang. Voicemail. It sounded so normal, much like the Gile's voicemail when I was growing up. Knowing I had a job to do, I left a voicemail telling anyone to give me a call back. In perhaps the most insensitive moment in human history, I asked the mother of a killer questions about what had happened.

Of course the voicemail never got to her.

When the police found that she had been shot, I realized the full weight of what I had done. The intrusion bothers me to this day. It was that day I realized what it meant to be a human first and a journalist second.

What I Learned in the Class

Before taking Use of the Library, I think I had a cursory knowledge of how to use search engines. I could usually find what I was looking for, but many times I had to sift through a lot of information that I didn't need. Now I don't have to waste time looking through things I don't need.

My job involves a lot of research and I believe this class will be a huge help to me in the future. I have already reaped some of the rewards, finding information that other could not.

I was suprised to learn about all the databases that a UCO student has at their disposal. The wealth of knowledge is almost worth the price of tuition alone. Almost.

Quite honestly, this might be my favorite assignment of the semester. This was my first online course ever. It may have not been a great idea in my final semester, but I guess old dogs can learn new tricks.

The drawback to these kind of classes is that there is very little human interaction, which is a big problem for me. I tend to learn by talking through things, and online courses present a unique challenge.

Use of the Library Assignment

I covered this some at the beginning of the semester, but I figured that I would update everyone on what has been going on in my life over the past year or so.

Hobbies:

Hiking

This summer, I was able to do more hiking and backpacking than I had in a very long time. I visited four national parks (Grand Canyon, Zion, Great Sand Dunes, Rocky Mountain) and spent a lot of time on the trial.

Ted and I in Great Sand Dunes National Park

Angel's Landing in Zion National Park

News

Right now, I work as an assignment editor at Channel 4 in Oklahoma City on the weekends. It's a pretty great job because you are never sure what kind of place you're going to walk in to. Some days it can be boring, but other times it's a madhouse. In a good way.

Answering phones after a recent earthquake.

Tucker

I know this isn't exactly a hobby, but my dog Tucker takes up enough of my time to constitute one. He is a ten-month-old golden doodle and he likes to cause havoc everywhere he goes. But I love him anyway.

He recently learned how to smile for the camera.

Food in Texasland

This week, tens of thousands of Oklahomans traveled to Dallas for the OU/Texas game. But perhaps the bigger event was happening just outside the Cotton Bowl.

The Texas State Fair is the largest state fair in the county and probably has the largest average attendee. On top of that, it's also home to the most terrifying picture ever taken in human history:

 

And although they unveiled a new, less haunting Big Tex this year, that's not why people go to the fair. They go for the $10 corn dogs, fried butter and chocolate-covered bacon.

This year, perennial award-winners Fried Food Capital of Texas completely changed the game with their new creation: Fried Thanksgiving Dinner. I mean isn't Thanksgiving terrible for you anyway? We probably shouldn't expect anything different from the people who brought you fried bubble gum.

 

Even though OU blew a chance to end Mack Brown's coaching career at Texas, we can all be happy that there is still a place in the world where people turn liquid Nutella into a form that you can eat without bothering to ruin it with anything else.

The Foodie Effect

Blogging has completely changed the world of food. The endless mass of food content on the web has permeated into everyday life. Ten years ago, today's version of a "foodie" would probably look insane to the rest of the population.

"What do you mean your life revolves around food? You have a serious problem."

Also, food blogs have given the world some amazing recipes. How to make a cronut at home, you ask? Easy. How about fair food in January? Done.

Restaurant reviews have made eating out a no-risk activity. I would like someone to find out how many cases of food poisoning have been avoided all thanks to Yelp and Urbanspoon.

In the end, we're living in a time where you can be a full-time food blogger and it's considered a valid occupation. And I'm okay with that.

Kurt Hochenauer: The Okie Funkmaster

When Kurt Hochenauer started his left-wing political blog Okie Funk in 2004, he saw it as a service to Oklahoma liberals who didn't have a place to read a local political blog that wasn't ultra-conservative.

According to Kurt, the best way you can improve your blog is to improve your writing. I think this is something that I can implement in my blog. When Kurt started his blog, there was a content vacuum that he wanted to fill. However, today the blogosphere is completely flooded with hundreds of millions of blogs. This makes finding an audience a relatively daunting task. Kurt's solution to this is to make sure that you know what you want your content to be and stick to it.

As someone who is interested in political reporting, I really enjoyed listening to Mr. Hochenauer. His task in the face of adversity is pretty inspiring. It would be difficult to work against the right-wing tide of Oklahoma for almost 10 years, pouring over hateful comments and resisting the urge to fight the trolls.

UCO Ethics Conference

 Last week, the University of Central Oklahoma Hosted the 2013 Media Ethics Conference. The keynote speaker was Al Jazeera America reporter Josh Rushing. Personally, I attended the Ethics in Broadcasting event with UCO professors Mark Scott and David Nelson as well as KFOR reporter La'tasha Givens.

The panel was really enlightening because of the honesty with which the panelists approached the subject. All three panelists were forthcoming in describing some situations they have found themselves in while working in the media, particularly Mrs. Givens.

There is some overlap between broadcasting ethics and blogging ethics because many news stations have websites where they post content. Honestly, most of these websites resemble a blog. As someone who posts content on KFOR's website, I can attest that a lot of what gets posted is a watered-down version of what gets discussed in the newsroom. When you are dealing with an audience as big as KFOR's, you have to make sure that you don't alienate them with content that they find offensive or unethical.

I think the strongest part of the sessions I attended were the panelists. They seemed hand-picked to provide unique insight into whatever the session was about. The weakest part was probably audience participation. Many times when the panelists asked for feedback, the room sat silent for more than a few uncomfortable moments.

Local Favorites: Part 3

In the last part of this series, I didn't want to limit my favorites to just one category. I've decided to do a quick take of three of my favorite local shops.

Big Truck Tacos

In my opinion, this was the place that started the food truck craze in OKC. It has been running as a restaurant since 2008 with a location on NW 23rd and Walker. It almost won Travel Channel's America's Favorite Food Truck in 2010, missing an opportunity to be on The Great American Food Truck Race.These guys know how to make a taco. The creativity that they show within the confines of a tortilla is sometimes pretty astounding.


Menu Highlights

Crispy'cado - This is a vegetarian taco but don't be fooled: I'm not sure it's all that healthy. The ingredients here are a fried avocado slice (!), romaine lettuce and queso fresco. So simple, so delicious. This is my favorite thing on the menu.

Beef al Carbon - If you like classic street tacos, this is your meal of choice at Big Truck. Coffee-rubbed flank steak with grilled poblano and roasted onions. Squeeze a little lime on it an garnish with one of the six (SIX!) available salsas.

Thunder Burrito - This is a mission-style burrito in case tacos aren't your Mexican food vehicle of choice. It's got just about everything and it's organized in layers so no two bites are the same. Bison picadillo, refried beans, potatoes, roasted onions and jalapenos as well as queso fresco and green onion.

Taj Cuisine of India

Also located on 23rd St., Taj is an Indian buffet. This doesn't fall into your typical buffet stigmas: it's very fresh and very consistent. For Indian food lovers with a big appetite, this should be in your arsenal.

Menu Highlights

Chili Chicken - Okay, so I'm cheating here. This is technically Indian food, but it's so freaking tasty that I couldn't leave it off the post. Beware: It's pretty spicy. Paired with some flatbread and plenty of rice, it is usually my main course.

Lamb Korma - Another spicy dish. This is similar to a Thai curry and, in my opinion, should be eaten like curry. Mix it with rice and chow down.