You know the world’s changing when Press Secretary Ari Fleischer has a fan club and a New York Times columnist admits he was wrong about the war.
On Sunday night CBS featured a movie starring Susan Sarandon which finished last among prime time shows. The worst part for Sarandon had to be getting the lowest ratings in New York City. Like I said earlier in the semester, it’s possible to see the changes where the political conventions are held.
A so-called socialist in Britain helped push the war cause in Europe and a predominantly Muslim country welcomed coalition soldiers in the center of Baghdad.
Ohio State somehow beat the powerful Miami Hurricanes for the college football championship and Augusta National is under fire for not permitting females in the club.
Yeah, the world’s changing when Fox News is the cable news leader and CNN has lost its grip as the news monopoly it once was.
What changed for me this semester was that I took on a bigger role in the East Tennessean by covering all sections of the news. But it was impossible to keep coming up with fresh ideas without the mentoring of several people.
First of all I know several intellectuals and take advantage of their vast knowledge.
Dr. Page, one of my history professors, provided knowledge from a different side of the aisle. He greatly helped me develop thought and good journalism despite the fact that we disagree often.
Frequently, East Tennessean student advisor Martha Milner helped me find good resources for my stories, and philosophy professor, Dr. Ott, took time to talk issues regarding modern day thought.
Dr. Fritz and Dr. Baxter, both history professors, likewise are knowledgeable and have been good interviews for some of my writing this year.
The viewpoint editor, Marianne Steffey, has printed my articles and provided a platform for me in the paper. She and the rest of the East Tennessean staff have been awesome in taking new ideas into the paper.
The student body proved to me that they do care about this country and patriotism is alive on the ETSU campus. The students reinforced to me that you can be patriotic and objective at the same time. Yet again, during the anti-war debates I was impressed by former military man, Mark Peters, for standing strong in the heat of battle.
I did see him debate once and let’s just say, do not be on the opposing side when debating Peters.
While I have complimented a few masters of oratory there has been a great writer amidst us this semester. His name is Robert Nicholls. He is an exchange student from Great Britain.
“British Bob,” as I call him, has a good political mind and knows how to express himself with the pen.
Starry nights have also developed over the ETSU campus. I came up with the idea for the Star Report mid-semester. The idea was to interview an ETSU female about relationships and see what kind of reaction it brought. Well, let’s just say that I have heard Star being talked about in the social scenes on Thursday night. Yes, Star is real and she does not work at the East Tennessean.
Star said, “The column was so much fun. I think people miss that aspect and just a very few of them actually understand that’s what the column is about.” These people just will not let others have opinions, Star said in her last word of the semester.
I had one of the greatest experiences of my life when I covered the NCAA Tournament and freelanced for a local newspaper. The whole event was amazing to cover despite paying my own way to Tampa. Writing about sports took me back to my first love. The journalists who cover sports are as important as those who cover news and political issues.
Next semester there are many exciting things to look forward to such as Executive Editor Whitney Bennet holding her position for the third straight semester. Aaron Lee will tackle social issues in the viewpoint column and Amanda Greever will be the new editor for the news section.
A new SGA is in place and has some exciting things they want to do on campus starting ASAP.
Greek life will be lit up by the new council at Sigma Chi. Already Brandon White and his brothers are livening up the scene with social events on the Tree Streets.
Even though I’m a junior my first year here has been great.

Author