It's hard to say goodbye

I wanted to start my last blog by saying thank you to Professor Gail McElroy for being a great journalism teacher. I know dealing with me every quarter this past year isn’t easy, just ask my mother haha! I’ve improved my skills in writing and knowledge in journalism because of you, so thank you!

One valuable aspect I learned about feature writing was the kabob structure. I was used to the inverted pyramid because of news writing, but as soon as I was introduced and incorporate the kabob structure, I was thankful my stories didn’t have to be in the inverted pyramid anymore. A structure that enables me to use my imagination and be a little more free, yet I can’t forget some parts of news writing is in features.

Another lesson I learned was that the subjects that are covered aren’t as depressing as news writing. Why is valuable to me? It’s because I’d rather be sucked into information or stories that bring my spirits down or have to live in fear or be afraid all because of a story I read. Whether it’s reading or writing, I’d prefer topics or subjects in features writing such as trend stories, personal narratives, human-interest, and others.

The third valuable thing I learned was feature writing, in general, is a lot more fun than news writing. I have nothing against news writing since it was the reason I have built a foundation in journalism, but I have a philosophy where if you’re not having fun with what you’re doing or if you’re not enjoying it, you’re doing it wrong. Between the two, I would choose feature writing just because of my personal philosophy.

I feel that my APA style is getting a lot better within my stories/articles and being able to step out of my comfort zone by writing stories/articles with new structures that other people have used that I have never thought of ever trying before. My titles have gotten more creative, but that was only because feature writing has given me the opportunity to expand my imagination more than regular English classes or news writing.

I might be interpreting this question wrong, but my favorite feature style of writing would have to be personality profiles because it enabled me to get to know someone I didn’t know better and write a story about them. It’s like making a new friend and writing their biography (sort of). I learned a lot not only about the person, but being aware of their actions, likes and dislikes, and past. My least favorite was the enterprise/investigative because I’m not really curious with topics such as how many people get their car damaged at school or how clean the bathrooms are.

What’s next for me? Well this is my last quarter at De Anza and I feel nostalgic about it. I’ve been here since the fall of ’07, been through a lot of tough situations, but I never gave up on my dreams and goals in life. I’m happy to leave after so many years, yet it’s hard to move on after being established here for so long. I will be going to SJSU for public relations in sports or video games, continue dancing my heart out until my body can’t take it, learn as many things as I can before my time is up, take care of my mother, and later in the future have a family. Until then I’ll be enjoying my first real summer without having to go to summer school by going to Las Vegas and a possible trip outside of the country or to Hawaii. I’ve enjoyed this class and won’t forget what I learned or the people I met. Thank you all!

Do you ever feel, like a plastic bag, deserves the benefit of the doubt

According to an editorial in the San Jose Mercury News, California plans on banning plastic bags. Now, there is good evidence on how much production it takes to make it, how much oil, being environmentally dangerous, which is something I do understand and take into consideration. HOWEVER, whatever I’m going to say from here on out will not be logical, just pure emotion and only related to my selfish needs. I may get criticized or may be taken down through logic on this topic, but this is somewhat of me venting and opposing the ban of plastic bags.

Because of these “urban tumbleweeds,” they’re littering the parks and waterways. Whenever you bring a product, living organism, or anything, maintenance comes along with it. When you get a new dog you don’t expect it to clean itself or pick up its own droppings. When there are plastic bags lying around, people are educated enough where they should clean up their areas to produce a clean environment for their children and loved ones. Those involved in community service, if there are plastic bags left around and people are heading home, it shows they’re not doing a good enough job. It’s taking the easy way out of eliminating the bag and not changing the bad habits of people today.

Plastic bags may use oil for production, but what doesn’t? There are other things out there that use more than the plastic bags, yet the majority of us won’t even use those things. Plastic bags are more convenient in the sense of reusing them as trash bags, yack bags in the car, travelling light with clothes and/or shoes, putting them over your shoes in order to keep wherever you’re walking clean, and many more.

If it’s our tax dollars that are paying to clean up the areas, then we should pay less in taxes. If places aren’t cleaned up properly, then we’re being ripped off with our tax dollars because whatever we’re investing in, we don’t get anything back in return because of the lazy workers.

There are always unfortunate situations that come along, and with plastic bags, they could just fly out of trash bins or dumps, landing in the habitats of animals which could jeopardize their existence. However, this could be changed if things were properly disposed of or only worry about ourselves. We, the planet as a whole that uses plastic bags, need to play our parts equally and keep it clean. If people don’t play their part, it shows and people will blame the plastic bags instead of themselves, thinking that will get rid of the problem.