Capstone

Tomorrow is my last day of grad school classes. It will be bittersweet. Sure, it’s an accomplishment. But I will truly miss my classmates — my friends who make the communications program at The College of Saint Rose so much fun.

While it is my last day of classes, I’ll still be three credits short of my graduate degree. Just one small hurdle stands in my way: a capstone project.

Actually, it’s a pretty big hurdle. My project is a look into local political campaign strategies from a public relations perspective. It requires a significant writeup including a literature review, methodology, thorough analysis, and conclusions.

It’s a boatload of work, and I’m eager to get it finished.

I ask for your patience if my already shortened blog posts become a little shorter.

Back to the capstone…

Fun with Dragons and Digital Video

My last official grad school class at The College of Saint Rose, Digital Video Production, is nearing an end. Tonight we had a great time collecting video of a practice session for a local dragon boat racing team. They’re called “Hope in the Boat.” It’s a great organization, and I’ll have to write more about them later.

In the meantime, and especially for my brother’s benefit, (he loves this video/movie stuff, lives and works in LA), here’s a photo of me pretending to be a sound guy while one of my classmates shoots some video. Not sure why we left our lifejackets on when we were nowhere near the water for this particular shot. And special thanks go out to my friend Danielle for taking a great picture of the back of my head:

Sounds good to me

I’m sure I was doing it wrong.

Clearly though, the dragon boat paddlers were doing it right.

Dragon Boat

6/24/11 Update:

I received a photo of my attempt at being a sound man from my classmate Alex…

Photo by A. Englander. Used with permission.

I’m thinking the back of my head might be my better side.

Time flies…

… when you’re working on your grad school capstone project.

That’s why I missed my Saturday post.

Back to the grind. Got a few more things to accomplish before grabbing some zzz’s.

School’s Out

Well, school’s out for the next couple weeks anyway. Then I start my last semester of graduate school. Six weeks of Digital Video Production and a summer focused on my capstone project, and I’ll be the proud recipient of a master’s degree in communication.

Tonight was my last class with a number of my classmates, people I’ve come to know over the last two years. I’ll miss sitting next to them in class and working with them on group projects. It’s a bit sad, but I’m also thrilled to see a bunch of them complete their degrees and graduate.

Personally, I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel, but that might just be my imagination.

In the meantime, I’ve got a brief break from school.

No, wait… I still have to finish up some minor edits to an ethics paper and submit it tomorrow.

Then I’ll be done for the semester.

No, wait… I’m starting my capstone work this Friday.

Forget it. No break necessary. Bring on the degree.

Quakers in Abany

A little shameless self promotion here. It also functions as an explanation for why I haven’t spent a whole lot of time on my own blog. I’ve been busy with grad school writing.

My story about Quakers in Albany has been published on the Times Union’s Pine Hills blog. It’s all part of my journalism class. Not that I’m trying to drive up the TU‘s stats, but check it out.

On a personal level, I don’t foresee myself becoming a Quaker. Nor do I think I’ll become a regular at their weekly peace vigils. But don’t take that as criticism of their beliefs. Not at all. They have earned my immense respect. Their dedication to peace is impressive. For nearly a decade they have held their peace vigil at the state Capitol. Every Wednesday. Rain or shine.

That’s dedication!

Headline: Newspaper Attacked

I think my journalism professor might get a kick out of this post. Not that I expect her to read it; she prefers newsprint over the electrons of blogging. I can respect that. I know I’ve said it before… it makes for good in-class discussion.

Earlier in the semester, our journalism class took a trip to the Times Union. It was educational and interesting, especially when we got to see the ol’ printing press close up. I just wish we could have seen it in operation. (I’m fascinated by complex machinery in motion.) I’m doubly interested after making a discovery today.

A typical Sunday means we buy a copy of the Times Union. Today was no different. When my wife opened up the paper… she discovered… [cue dramatic music]…

THIS

Perhaps the music was a little overdramatic.

Still, I want to know how it happened. What chopped up that page leaving perfect teeth-like triangles? Was it the printing press? Is a rival newspaper chewing up the TU‘s classified section one page at a time?

Front page news, I think.

Or not.

School Daze

As I get closer to wrapping up grad school, we get ready for Tim to start kindergarten. Time flies. Seems like it was just yesterday that I hugged him after he banged his knee on the floor.

No, that was yesterday.

Seems like it was just the day before yesterday that I was rocking him to sleep next to his crib. He’s growing up fast. And that means in September he will board one of those big yellow behemoths that cruise our suburban streets weekday mornings and afternoons. He’s looking forward to it.

Tonight was the parents’ kindergarten orientation meeting. Of course, tonight also was my media ethics class. Because the bulk of class was dedicated to a group project, I opted to go to school and left the orientation meeting to my wife. A week ago, I considered attending the orientation meeting. I received some quizzical looks when I mentioned that I might have to skip grad school to attend kindergarten orientation.

Yet, I suspect my classmates and professor might agree… grad school could use a little kindergarten. How ’bout some recess, rest time, and snacks?

I feel the need – the need to read

It’s good to be married to a librarian. She loves to read. So do the kiddos. And I truly enjoy a good book, an intriguing news article, or a good blog.

Frankly, though, I’ve fallen behind on much of my online reading, especially that of my fellow bloggers. I don’t want to sound like I’m whining, but I’m blaming it on the grad school workload. Without a doubt, this has been my most challenging semester of grad school, and I’ve been a bit inundated with school reading and assignments lately. On a positive note, I met with my advisor for my capstone project, similar to a thesis. I’m very comfortable with the plan we worked out to tackle the project.

My apologies to my fellow bloggers… especially Debbi and Harvey. Gimme a couple days, and I promise to catch up on your blogs. Frankly, I need your humor and inspiration to renew my own writing.

In the meantime, I have to finish some journalism classwork and start on my final media ethics class project. Oh yeah, and sleep.

Sigh.

From Cyberbullying to Quakers

This semester it’s “Media Ethics” and “Journalism History & Practice” for grad school at The College of Saint Rose. The two classes don’t mix as well as chocolate and peanut butter. But they do overlap, by topic and by assignment.

Earlier today I had a journalism story due. I wrote one about a group of Quakers in Albany, NY. For the most part, that assignment is out of the way. But in just under 22 hours, I’ve got a five-page paper due for Media Ethics. The topic: cyberbullying.

It’s a tough topic. Not because it’s any more difficult to write about. No, it’s tough to read about it, to hear about it. Certainly, people have treated others with cruelty throughout history. What scares me about cyberbullying is the speed at which it occurs. With just a few keystrokes, a few clicks of a mouse, horrendous commentary can be spread worldwide. And in this online world, it can be accomplished virtually anonymously.

As I think about raising my two boys in today’s society, I occasionally get antsy. My kids are growing up in an online world, one with an accelerating pace. The specter of cyberbullying increases my uneasiness. It makes it all the more important that I teach my children the importance of being respectful.

Despite traditional childhood sayings about “sticks and stones,” words are capable of producing pain. We should measure them carefully. I’m reminded of Psalm 19:14:

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (NIV)

Bringing this post full-circle, I suspect that cyberbullies could learn a great deal from the Quakers!

And now I’ve only got 21 hours to finish the paper. Back to work…

Journalistic Helpers

I assure you that I’m writing. I just wish more of it was for this blog. Most of my recent writing is for grad school. I’m working on a story for my journalism class, and then I have to finish a paper for my media ethics class. The journalism story has required a number of recent trips to the Pine Hills area of Albany to visit a couple churches. I’ll tell you more about that later. Fortunately, I’ve had some company. Call them my journalism assistants…

Patiently waiting on "journalist" Dad

Back to work…