Late June

I've gone and come back from Seattle, which is a big deal--I don't usually travel to the West side.
We've gone and come back from Alaska, which is a bigger deal--I haven't been there in ten years.
Cheney has calmed down. The temperatures are heating up.
One of these days, I'll slip into a routine.
I've started my internship at The Cheney Free Press. The people are fun. I totally love them. I've written a story and a half--and I should explain that half to you.

Rodeo weekend is the second weekend in July and it's a really big deal here in Cheney. There's a parade and a car show and, well, a rodeo. Okay, truth is I usually avoid the big crowd stuff if I can.
My assignment was to write an article about the steer riding for youth event and the historic tours that will take place over the weekend. The historic tours are easy. I could write volumes on that: buildings to see and stories about people that lived here. There's just so much to say. But when I put together my steer writing article, I was scraping for content.

My goal was 600 words. I achieved 192. I visited the website. I interviewed the chair and secretary of the association. It was like they said, there wasn't a lot to tell.

I'm still waiting for feedback about the articles. It's just too bad that the first crappy article couldn't wait until the third or fourth week, you know?

So between that and pacing myself with Easterner work, I'm giving my novel a final edit. Today is the first day I've had to do this (and look, I'm blogging instead.) I can think of a million things to do other than work on this novel, and yet it's the thing I want most.

I must not be as focused on my deadline as I thought!

VBS Pandamania highlights day one

These are highlights from the first day of Vacation Bible School. This is my first time shooting and cutting video, so it's not perfect. All in all it was fun. While everyone has different beliefs, there is no denying that there is nothing more adorable than a smiling child.

Jumpin on the bandwagon

Figured I'd let all of you get to know me a little, since many of you have done the same.
My name is Mikayla Napier.
I am 18 years old.
I am from Santa Cruz, California. For those of you who don't know where that is, it's about an hour and a half south of San Francisco. It's a pretty sweet beach town where the majority of the population is either a hippie, a surfer, or a bum and this place floods with tourists June through September. I fall under the surfer category.
I have 9 siblings but they are all step or half (the parentals divorced when i was 4) and they range from 2 to 28.
I have a German Shepherd named Tasha who is 7 years old and I absolutely adore her.
I am going to be a sophomore this coming year, majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies with plans of going into the Occupational Therapy program, in the long run my hope is to work with kids with special needs. My junior and senior year of high school I was out of school everyday between 10 and 11:30ish (I took a lot of classes my freshman and sophomore year so didn't have much left for the last two years) so I decided to make use of this extra time by volunteering in a special needs class in an elementary school for the two years. The first year I worked with a 10 year old boy with Down Syndrome and the second year I worked with a 7 year old buy with Autism, long story short my life was changed by these young men and this is where I came to the conclusion that this is what I wanted to do with my life.
I was real big into sports throughout high school, I played a season of football (yeah, on the guys team), 3 seasons of basketball, a season of track, a season of volleyball, and a season of cross country, until about halfway though my junior year during basketball season, I was playing pointgaurd, two defenders came at me, I planted to stop and pass and my knee cap dislocated which was the end of my high school sports career.
I also worked two jobs throughout high school (one at a grocery store, the other at a Taqueria, and then last summer I worked for Environment California with a bunch of crazy hippies and at a pizza place as a waitress) I coached a middle school softball team, and volunteered every summer at a christian camp.
I am one of those people who gets bored easily so that list of activities I just gave was my solution.
I hope you all are having a great summer and I am looking forward to working with everyone.
As of right now, I think that is an adequate amount of information. Although it was basically a recap of the last 5 years of my life, I think that how you spend your days can be a good glimpse into the type of person you are. Going along with that last statement, I will end with this Annie Dillard quote "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."

The Freegans of Peaceful Valley

Hand made sign: notice it's made from real crayons.

I agreed to bring Jesse to Food Not Bombs (FNB) Sunday. I hadn’t kicked it with him for many months, only greeting him briefly at the Plaza on odd-occasions. He’d been getting over his relationship for the last month, and I’d just entered phase one of my own separation.

“We need to kick it man,” he wrote on Facebook.

“Come with me to Food Not Bombs on Sunday,” I replied. “I’m trying to do a story for the Inlander about it. I think you would benefit greatly from the experience.”

Over the last week my primary target had been getting away from everyone: starting fires in the backyard and writing by moonlight; going on long midnight walks around the river; and racking my brain for answers. Metaphysical questions lead people to madness, I told myself. Quit thinking.

It’s strange, it seems, that when you want people around, no one’s ever around. But when you want to be left alone, people seem to crawl out of the walls. Or you have responsibilities which bind you to others. In a way, I suppose, bringing Jesse was a way of reaching out, trying to heal.

I greeted him at the park: “What’s up, it’s been awhile.”

“What’s goin’ on?”

I told him I was meeting this girl Natalya that I had met on the FNB Facebook page. She was going to be our contact for this story. She had answered some questions for me over the last week and was down to let me shadow her while she helped cook food.

From what I understood, FNB was a vegan collective which fed the homeless, poor, or otherwise counter-cultural-minded people. Some groups, according to my friend Core in Portland, practice freeganism, where the participants went dumpster diving for the food they serve. Sounds good to me.

Most of the members I met were anarchists, but on their website it didn’t say that one’s political views had to be anything. But the whole thing felt like something aligned with an anarchistic ideology.

“This is straight D.I.Y. , they’re not messing around,” I told him as we were walking to the plaza. “And don’t let them know you smoke cigarettes.”

Just then Natalya walked up. Natalya, a Ukrainian girl, is tall and skinny. She wears glasses and carries a tiny can of pink pepper spray. Her accent is barely noticeably, mostly because she speaks at volumes that tiny earbuds can rival. But there is something sincere about her. I mean, what kind of person wakes up on a Sunday morning to go hand out fliers for hours to hobos and homebums just so they may eat a free, healthy vegan meal?   Someone who understands the necessity of eating.

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” I said, shaking her hand. “This is my friend Jesse, he’s going to be tagging along today because he wants to see what FNB is all about.”

“No problem,” she said.

She tells me that they’re not doing so hot these days. Their leader, Bethany, was in a serious bicycle accident last month and is in the hospital.

“She can’t remember anyone’s faces,” she tells us. “And I haven’t seen some of the people who used to come here to help.”

We make the mile long trek down into the depths of Peaceful Valley. You can almost smell 1969 down here. Many of its inhabitants were hippies back when there were such things as hippies. Some were on Haight and Ashbury when it all finally came tumbling down. The old double-wide community center still retains some groove, as can be seen in the people who sit around the park below Monroe Street Bridge.

 Six punk rockers are present. Natalya gets the keys from one of them, a man who goes only by the name of Roscoe. I tell Natalya that Jesse and I are going to be writing out questions over on a bench.

“The problem with objectivity,” I tell Jesse at the bench, “is that it forces a kind of dehumanized censoring of self. It’s the enlightenment on crack! As if society can be found empirically. We’re turning into machines.”

“I see what you’re saying,” he says. “It’s like how we can’t really know Mars until we go there because a robot doesn’t have the intuition that people have.”

“Exactly!”

“And therefore, journalists having to remain objective, for the most part, forces them to compromise what they may feel is right.”

“But I am more opinion orientated anyway. This is why I’ve been struggling with the idea of journalism. But, I think if I can learn to base my writing on a universal morality, and by universal I mean basing it on the material universe, I can make an ethical argument for the way I write.”

“Where does FNB fit in?” he asks. “I mean, if we put your universal-thing to the test.”

I think for a minute.

“FNB is trying to feed the people who society regards as inconsequential. These kids come out here, seemingly wasting their time every Sunday, so they can help. Their fight is for the planet, because they believe that modern food industry is destroying the land, which they’re partly right. They believe that current food production is unhealthy and leads to obesity and sickness. They’re partly right.  They believe that this sickness leads to debt from hospital bills. They’re partly right. And they understand that it all stems from something simple: greed. How can we cut corners to feed more, make more, and go about business as usual. What’s funny is that they’re reactionary in one sense: looking back to ways we used to eat; but at the same time revolutionary. Those two things meet in the middle and seem to be more universally objective than any objective journalist could make them.”

But this is nothing new. 

I told Jesse I’d teach him journalism. This is what he gets.

But as a writer, he understands the struggle that becomes the human condition when trying to put it on paper.

We watch people come and go. A couple, far off in the park towards Monroe Street Bridge, smoke a joint.  We can smell it this far away. The woman wears glasses which are taped in the middle. But the big strips of black duct tape go half-way over her lenses. I couldn’t see how she could see out of them.

“Let’s go interview these people,” he says to me. “I want some action.”

            “Sounds good to me.”

We walk through the field, trying to notice all the little things. They’re clues, I tell him. There’s a black man in his mid-20s doing homeless Karate with a lead pipe not far from the couple. He spins the pipe vigorously, stepping in line with what looks like a Bruce Lee move. We can both tell he’s seen Enter the Dragon too much.

I start to follow him instead of the couple, more interested in this man’s story.  He runs into the hills, though. So both of us follow him up there.

“Ah,” expressed Jesse, a sigh of relief from the core of his soul. “I can finally smoke a cigarette.”

            “I wonder where he went,” I said.

Soon enough, the man comes down the hill like an anchorite. He has no shoes, a ratty beard, and is encrusted with dirt. He pulls out a pipe and takes a hit. He holds it out to us as if it’s an ancient Native American peace pipe offering.  We shake our heads, not knowing if it’s marijuana, PCP, or melted plastic. Although the scent was very much that of marijuana.

“Shoot,” he says. “Man I’m from Cali, we ain’t gotta do no hidin’ ‘bout dis right here.”

“How’s it going man,” I ask. “My name is Derek and I’m doing a story on FNB. Are you waiting to go to that?”

He hits the pipe again.

“What,” he says, holding in a hit. “I don’t know what you just said. Naw, I’m here just livin’. The cops took away my shoes. I’m just trying to get to the Rainbow Gathering, but when I got up here they said they moved that [stuff] to Vancouver! THEN the police roughed me up and took my shoes! So now I’m stuck until I can get some money to get on outta here.”

We make small talk with the man with no shoes. He tells us his name is Max, but that his last name is magical. He can’t tell us what it is. His only concern was getting out of Spokane. He had family here, and he’d been visiting them, but seemed more interested in the Rainbow Gathering and politics.

             He told us about his friends he’d lost on the road. Most from drug abuse and alcohol addiction. His only interest: marijuana.

“It’s sad,” Max said, shaking his head. “Because they all let [life] get to them. They got the ‘itch,’ and now they’re [screwed]. I know how that goes; been there. But I also know that I wanna live. I wanna do something. And I’m not gonna let that [stuff] take control of me. But I’ll smoke me some green any day!”

At one point he tells us that he’s starving. Jesse tells him about FNB, and instructs him to find as many of his friends as he can so they can all get fed. He walks over to the building immediately, taking huge steps. This was the image of a man on a mission. He walks in one door with the big lead pipe, half an afro bushy and disheveled, and walks out the other door with a huge stack of FNB fliers.

I laugh at the site and tell Jesse, “I don’t know if that’s even journalism. But, hey, whatever. [Max and his friends] needed to eat, and [FNB] wanted to feed. It’s serendipity.”

Soon hobos and homebums of every race, age, creed and color come walking out of the urban forest. They march through the park and infiltrate the food. The members of FNB dish them all up a great deal of food, and they all sit at benches and eat.

We eat the food they serve us; it’s delicious. I talk to Natalya and the others before Jesse and I retreat downtown.

“Thanks for coming,” Natalya said. Everyone else says ‘bye’ and ‘thanks,” and soon we’re off. I tell Jesse, “I think I’m getting better at this,” not realizing that I didn’t even have a story. We get downtown and find our separate buses.

“So what are you going to do,” Jesse asked.

“Figure out how to write this as a blog. I’m sure it won’t be read, so I might experiment with it, because, hey, we’re in college. If I have to one day get a job, I sure won’t be able to do what I want for long.”

“Hit me up sometime if you want to commiserate,” he says, getting onto the bus.

“Alright man, peace!”

The buses begin to leave. I let mine pass me by, opting instead to walk home: all three or four miles.

What next?

Slut Walk™ Spokane—dangerous territory

I chug my coffee, waiting for palpitations. I’m unusually tired today. I don’t know why, I slept eight full hours.  Then the news comes on and I remember everything: I’d rather be sleeping.

My heart starts murmuring something to me: “please, no more coffee.” So I put down the cup, and listen to the news.

The world is a mess, it says. Those exact words. If only someone could sort it out. Could we not but simplify the problems we see? Reduce it somehow. Like fractions.  But we forget something all too fundamental.

Apathy.

There are those who watch the great spectacle of life unfold, and then there are those who are the great spectacle. Whatever of the spectacle left in me is now relegated to mere observer. I am a journalist.

I get off the bus on a warm but rainy June Friday.  Just three blocks down is a mass of protesters colluding by the Bloomsday runner statues. It’s not yet apparent, at this distance, that some of them are dressed like sluts—dolled up in g-strings, miniskirts, and bustiers.

This is Slut Walk. It is the direct reaction and result of one Toronto police officer’s inability to articulate carefully. These women (and men) are taking the word “slut” back, in an attempt to scrub it of any pejorative connotation.

"Women should avoid dressing like sl*ts in order not to be victimized,” Constable  Michael Sanguinetti told a York University crowd on Jan. 24, 2011. He has since apologized for the remarks, but not before setting off worldwide Slut Walks, including the smaller one here in Spokane.

By the logic of the Toronto Police Department, there should be a multitude of rapists prowling this area, hiding in trees, storefronts, and under sewer caps; but none today, only the prowling of the police, which circle and watch. There’s something very animalistic about the whole mess, something I can’t quite figure out.

I follow the elderly women in the full-body g-string. Her husband wears some kind of biker outfit fit for a kink. Taylor Malone plays emcee on the megaphone, shouting various slogans. We march.

Eventually we get to the police station, back to the park, and around. But more than the story unfolding here, I couldn’t quit thinking about the sense of unity present here in Spokane. Could this be something new? Last time there was any major protest was in 2008, when decent anarchists protested police brutality, which, curiously, ended in more police brutality.  

And around town there’s been numerous rallies and protests ranging from opposition to Cathy McMorris, to the legalization of marijuana. I don’t know why they're opposed, but I do know that they want to legalize marijuana.

I went home unfulfilled. But remembering that soon I’ll be attending Food Not Bombs: an anarchist vegan collective.  Note to self: write about protests and activist groups in and around Spokane over the summer. Even if you’re really, really poor.  (Maybe the vegans can feed me).

Summer school and two jobs...

I think I need a vacation!
Hey everyone, I am Desiree and I will be joining the team as a staff writer. I am looking forward to working with y'all. A little about me, I am a senior here majoring in Journalism and Public Relations. This major(s) found me after a failed attempt at a science career.
I am working the summer interning at Wishing Star Foundation, granting wishes to children, designing their newsletter on my favorite program InDesign, and really enjoying the experience so far. I am also going to be watching my five neices and nephews again so they will keep me busier than I already am.
Joining Kyle, I am taking the summer quarter and think that my 6 am alarm is the devil most days. I am taking a grammar class and it amazes me that a "writer" (at least that is what I have been told...lol) can have so many problems with subjects, verbs, and sentence modifiers. I have left class confused everyday and can only hope it gets easier.
Well, this is my first blogging experience so I hope I haven't bored you. Can't wait to hear more about everyone and their summer fun!

I like photography

Hi everyone,

I'm Aaron Malmoe the photography editor. Taking photographs is a skill i found out that i had during the fall of 2010. I had taken photographs before that but it wasn't until football season of 2010 where i thought, these pictures actually look pretty good. Anyways, I have been going to Eastern for two years now and am trying to decide between the journalism or Fitness and Health major. Basically I am hoping my photography career will take off here soon so I won't have to get a regular job like everyone else after college. Thought i'd share a photo collage of some things that i have been doing this summer so far. ( Its from the Leavenworth cruise last weekend)

I'm also excited to work with everyone next year at the Easterner! Its a great job and I couldn't be more thankful!

Peace.

About Me

I want to start by saying that I never blogged and only read sports blogs so this is mostly new to me, but I guess I'll start out by talking a bit about myself.

My name is Fedor Gaponenko, I'm 19 years young and this is going to be my second year at Eastern. Something interesting about me is that I'm a Russian speaking Ukrainian who moved to America when I was six years old. I've been in a wheelchair most of my life and am diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy.

In my free time I love to watch sports I play some guitar (suck bad enough that I can't perform but play good enough that I can't sell and give up) One of my hobbies is video games although I rarely finish them, so I prefer multiplayer kind like NBA 2k11 or Madden or Call of Duty basically anything that gives me the right to talk a lot of smack when I win. I also enjoy hanging out and making people laugh with my stupid jokes. Overall I'd say I'm super easy going and get along with almost anyone except annoying people.

I'm one of those people who wanted to be just about everything when I grow up. In elementary I wanted to be a hustler so I practiced with pokemon cards and marbles, in middle school I thought I wanted to be a lawyer until I realized its not that sexy of a job as your mostly reading and studying cases at home and in your office instead of defending criminals in court, later I thought I wanted to be an engineer but that didn't last either. (excuse the Comma Splices I can't help it)

In my junior year in Moses Lake High School I did running start at Big Bend Community College. I graduated two years later with both a diploma and an AA degree. After taking a speech class and doing a stand up comedy as one of my speeches I thought I wanted to be a stand up comedian then I noticed my wheelchair. At this point I thought I was gonna be an English teacher (don't ask me why) By the time summer past and I got to Eastern I changed my mind about being a teacher and decided to that I like writing not teaching to write. My options were simple I can be a creative writer (which is my preference) or a journalist (which is where you can actually get a real career) so I did a double major for one year Journalism and Creative Writing. Pretty quickly I realized a creative writing degree is not going to make me a more successful creative writer is and my career future is in Journalism so I put my focus on one major. For now I'm pretty certain that I'm sticking with it. I do still hope to write either a novel or a collection of short stories and poems (novel takes to much commitment and like I said I can't finish a video game so who am I kidding.)

I mentioned earlier I love sports (mostly just football and basketball and some soccer) my favorite teams are the Oklahoma City Thunder (I pray they come back to Seattle, but its not gonna happen) I also love the Seahawks and Sounders. NBA has been my obsession the last couple of years and I will talk major shit to all my friends who doubted KD and the Thunder when they start winning championships left and right while Lebron chokes over and over.

Anyway I'm getting bored of writing this I'm sure I didn't mention a lot of things about me. That'd be sad if I said everything there is :(

I'm going to be at hoopfest this coming up weekend everyone should come I heard Nate Robinson is going to be there!

School's in for summer

A wise man once said, "School's out for summer." While I don't normally like to cast suspicions upon the proclamations of grown men sporting mascara and girl's names, tomorrow is the first day of summer, and, for those of us taking classes in the summer session, classes began today. Summer session has many advantages. You don't have to deal with all of that pesky free time that all of the other students have to endure. Going to the lake? That's for the birds. Sleeping in? We should all be so lucky as to wake up at 7 a.m. every weekday morning all summer to sit in class and learn about sentence structure. Summer school is great. Who wants to be outside in all of that good weather? Not this guy. Give me a textbook, a desk, and a monotone professor any day. Unfortunately, I can't spend the whole summer in school. The National Guard has put the kibosh on my dreams of attending the whole summer session, limiting my blissful summer learning to the first half. So I'll spend the next four weeks doing homework while all you suckers are on vacation.

Howdy Y'all!

Well, hey there! I'm Azaria Podplesky and I'll be next year's Eagle Life editor. I'm double majoring in journalism and communication studies. Next year will be my senior year. Finally!

If I don't have time to explain, I say I'm from Lakewood, Wash. (where I went to my first high school), but the real answer is... who knows. I'm an ARMY brat so in my 20 years, I've lived in Bremerton, Fort Lewis, Alexandria and Fort Polk, LA, Fort Lewis again, Fort Jackson, SC, Lakewood, Fort Lewis again, Carlisle, PA and finally, here in Cheney.

All of this traveling has resulted in what many call a "Southern accent," though I have also been told I sound like I'm from California and New England. I don't notice an accent at all so you be the judge.

I was a contributing writer for The Easterner during the spring quarter of my sophomore year and spent the last year as a staff writer. I was the music intern at The Inlander for four months in late 2010 and am now considered a freelancer, though I haven't been able to write for them as much as I would like. I also contribute to Stitched Sound, an online music magazine, and The Newsroom UK, a UK-based organization that profiles young writers.

I'm always open to suggestions so if you have any ideas for the Eagle Life section, feel free to let me know : )

Oh yeah! Myself, my sister Ashley, another EWU student and a student from Idaho are leaving for Kisumu, Kenya this coming Wednesday for 50 days! I'm all sorts of nervous and excited about it; we'll be helping with a couple of educational programs, as well as a soccer camp and an arts and crafts camp. I just can't wait to get there and start working! I'll try to post little updates on here when I can but they will most likely be sporadic at best.

I think that's pretty much it as far as I go. Feel free to email easterner.eaglelife@gmail.com anytime over the summer with questions, comments, or suggestions. Otherwise, have a fantastic summer and I'll see you all in the fall!

-Azaria Podplesky

Radical, seditious, subversive, dissenting mutineer

“Every man has a right to be wrong in his opinions. But no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.” -Bernard M. Baruch

As the opinion editor, a position which seems superfluous to many at The Easterner, I begin my introduction with this quote for a myriad of reasons. For one, as the opinion editor it is my job to oversee the opinions of others. I do not base my opinion on a convoluted idea of my own beliefs. I strictly stay to the facts. As journalists, it is important to find the facts, and thus opine properly. Without this, we are simply wrong in our facts. This is both embarrassing and ignorant. Two, I believe that opinion is the dialectic of the universe unfolding; a very Hegelian view of things. Through well thought out opinions, we approach something closer to the truth. I don't believe in finding objective truth, only pursuing it to it's asymptotic edge, as that's as far as we'll ever get. Whereas I don't necessarily believe in "facts," I do believe that something is observationally more correct than something else. Therefore, opinion cannot be someone telling me that, for example, America is in debt because of social programs, Satan, and unions. If that person could tell me the history behind why unions came about in first place, what they were fighting for (and what they ultimately achieved); if they can explain to me Jesus' beliefs through his sayings; the Protestant work ethic; the military industrial complex; neoliberalism; neocolonialism; and possibly anything else that has brought us to this point in history, then we're talking opinion. Anything else is simply absurd:) While it is the duty of journalists to inform the public about what is new, it is also our duty to be informed in order to inform correctly. Armed with an understanding of history, our current plight, and a neverending curiosity, the job of the journalist—of any good communicator—is to write history now, and it is through the use of opinions that we get closer to the elusive truth. 

Those who ride the lightning

My name is Al Stover and I am 26 years old. There isn’t much to tell on my end. I am a Pisces, and I am currently studying journalism/communications at Eastern. I previously studied at Spokane Falls Community College, where I was a reporter and section editor for the SFCC Communicator.

Telling and listening to stories is a passion of mine. Although I only have a few years of experience under my belt, I have written about athletes, chefs in training, and Ghostbusters. I have also learned that stories don’t have to be told in print, but also can be told in photos, video, and other uses of multimedia. I also write fiction just for fun.

On the side, I enjoy reading and watching sports, specifically mixed martial arts and boxing. I am also a fan comics (Batman and the Flash are among my favorite).

I took the previous year off of school in order to rest up and get ready for the busy schedule. I am excited on staff and I am even more excited for the fall.

Okay, it is my turn.

Greetings fellow Easterner staff. My name is Evan Sykes and I am a VCD major. I am joining this year's team as a photographer, and I am very excited about it!

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am 34 years old, and this is my first year at EWU, albeit I am considered a Junior. Being born in Spokane, I guess you could call me a "Spokanite". When I was fresh out of high school, not knowing what I wanted to be when I "grew up", I joined the Army and travelled all over the place, spending much of my time in Germany. I went everywhere from London to Paris to Rome to Amsterdam to everywhere in between. I think I spent more time traveling than working (or at least it seemed like it at the time). I had a blast.

In 2004 my time was up in the Army, so I moved back to Spokane with my wife and a newborn son, still trying to answer the nagging question of, "who am I and what am I supposed to 'do' for the rest of my life?". So, I got a job in accounting! Yeah, um...

After a couple years of that, I got bored and wasn't happy with myself. I decided to try to go back to school. I tried and failed a few times, going through a few jobs and a bankruptcy in the middle of it all. We thought maybe we were cursed for moving back to Spokane after living in such a heavenly place, so we decided to do something drastic.

In the summer of 2009, we had a huge yard sale, got rid of everything we couldn't fit in the back of our truck and drove across America, ending up in South Carolina. It was a new adventure and a chance to start over fresh. We established ourselves rather quickly, with my wife finding full-time work and I started back up at going to school. Didn't know what I was going to school to become, so I took some classes ranging from psychology, philosophy, and history. I even threw in a few medical classes just to make sure I wasn't meant to be a nurse or a doctor or something. I found out a lot about myself, changed my major about seven times, (even got to travel a little!), but in the meantime our 7 year-old son was missing his grandparents and family back in Spokane.

I figured that I could go to school anywhere, so why not somewhere near Spokane? So we packed up and moved to Cheney in October after a year of being in South Carolina.

Well, this has become more of a story of my life than an introduction, so I will stop there and add another blog post later. Oh man! I just realized I never explained how I finally chose a major. Well, maybe next blog post, if you are still interested by that time.

I am really excited to be a photographer for the Easterner. Photography is something I am passionate about and love to do, and I am ready for fall quarter to arrive and our first issue to hit the stands.

Making Snowcones

My name is Christopher Stuck. I am the Chief Copy Editor. If that's not ringing any bells, I was the one with the big red beard. For the record, I do prefer "Christopher," but I will also accept "Crash." "Chris" makes my skin crawl.

About Me:

I am not a 4.0 student, though I was for one summer semester in community college. Instead, I am a 3.66 student after last quarter. I am a senior Literary Studies major, with minors in Spanish and Linguistics. I have two years left at Eastern, as I am taking my time and padding out my schedule with minors. Squishing all of the needed Literary Studies classes into two years was possible, but very likely miserable. Previously, I earned my Associate of Arts degree at Front Range Community College in Fort Collins, CO.

In 2001, while I was attending the University of Northern Colorado, where I majored variously in Graphic Design, Computer Information Systems (Online Media), and Journalism / Mass Communications, I interned at the Greeley Tribune as a line editor and doing the wire layout. The Tribune's website is available here: http://www.greeleytribune.com/ It is a sad, poorly done paper, in my opinion, especially sad because of its status as the paper for a city named after Horace Greeley.

This summer, I am working on my novel, a young adult book entitled Grandfather Klaus. I will be relaunching my daily webcomic, "Chocolate Shoes," at http://www.chocolateshoes.net/ , which has sadly fallen by the wayside due to school. I am also currently developing a steampunk comic with a Sherlock Holmes flavor, as well as designing t-shirts featuring things like a velociraptor in a jetpack.

This week, I have been obsessing over comics (especially the news that DC will be relaunching their entire line of books in September) and searching for a job.

The Job Hunt

So....

I have been searching for a job for what seems like forever but has realistically been about two months. I feel that I have had a dozen interviews and killed over a dozen trees with how many resumes I have given out to no avail.

It's been a long time since I have felt so discouraged in pursuit of anything, really. It's interesting how something that seemed like it would be so easy at first is swiftly becoming the most pervasive problem in my life currently.

If anyone has any suggestions or knows anyone who is hiring over the summer and even into Fall please let me know!

Sigh.

Chelsea

Introduction

June 11, 2011 (Sorry I missed you in Seattle, Amy)

So my first post will be a copycat of Amy's or something close to that nature (:

Following my finals and a long drive back to the west side, I've been helping my family move into our new home next to neighbors with dogs the size of motorcycles.

I'm a 3.98 student majoring in journalism, English, and communications with a minor in political science. I've worked for The Easterner for two quarters, ending spring as one of two senior reporters. I'll return in the fall as a senior reporter, alongside Kyle Harding, the other senior reporter.

I'll be venturing three classes at Highline Community College beginning June 20 because my mother doesn't believe in a summer vacation without school.

About two weeks ago, I got a job offer from my local paper, The Federal Way Mirror, as a staff writer... I didn't take the job. Last week, I got a call from someone from The Seattle Lesbian asking if I was interested in contributing with no pay; I'm thinking about it.

I can (fluently) speak three different languages, but only write in one... and I love food.

kristiehsin

Extra Credit?

Okay, I missed some points in an assignment recently. I was missing some proofs in my VCD 1 class.
So I did this today for some extra credit. (I hope!)

This is from a photo of my youngest daughter. I took it in 2008.



Breaking the Ice

Someone has to begin.
I think you'll find that blog posts vary from personal, like this one, to formal. In my previous project, washingtonat2400feet.blogspot.com, I wrote the latter. (And if you read this and it doesn't make sense, please remember that I'm still behind on sleep.) Whichever style you decide to post will be welcome. Please add your first and last name as a one-word label under your posting box. (Tag it with your name as I did below.)

Who is Amy Meyer? (If you're wondering--otherwise, skip this section.)
I have an advantage here. I've read everyone's resumes, but none of you have read mine.

I'm a 4.0 student (quick, get me some wood to knock on) double majoring in visual communication design and journalism. The last journalism class I need will be law of journalism, which I will take in the fall.

This year I worked under the title of Program Aide II for the Office of Information Technology at EWU. My tasks included thawing and updating computers, troubleshooting the 17 poorly-behaved Power Macs in the Digital Arts Lab (ART 207) and assisting students with Adobe software like photoshop, illustrator and a little InDesign. (Desiree will tell you that I did some Dreamweaver too, but I tell you that I flubbed through it.)

I volunteered at The Easterner copy desk during spring 2010 and I was hired as a staff writer for spring 2011.

Last November I worked the Associated Press call center in the PUB MPR with data entry. The big skill I developed was to repeat information that was spoken to me so that the caller knew whether or not I had the right numbers. (You're yawning now, I can hear it.)

I've volunteered with the Cheney High School Band Parent for five years now. I've been in charge of the spring jazz night fundraiser for the last four years, which brought in around $3,000 for the musicians this year.
During the spring a couple years ago, I headed up an audit of the Band Parent's account.

In the past, I've assisted with their apple pie fundraiser; this year I headed up the effort. I orchestrated around 100 parents and students to assemble around 1100 apple pies from scratch. I purchased ingredients, others I negotiated bargains for and networked with parents to discover how we could acquire donated ingredients. We assembled and froze those pies over two weekends. It was a huge endeavor.

In 2001, I started the Habitat-for-Humanity Spokane homeowners' association. I was awarded homeowner of the year and was invited to join the board of directors as a homeowner consultant. I accepted the invitation and was on the board for six years, which is the equivalent of two terms.

Plans this summer:
Aside from planning out the year and working on improvements like a new website (Stuart) and lighting kits (Doug), I'm interning at The Cheney Free Press. I'll lay out two pages per week and write one article, or so I'm told. I'm pretty excited about that.

I'm going to Seattle for a reception on June 10 with the Washington News Council. I've won the Dick Larsen Scholarship for 2011-12. (No, I'm not loaning you money.)

I'll fly to Anchorage for my adopted stepdaughter's wedding within a week after that, to Minneapolis for a journalism conference at the end of July and to Portland for the OCW writers' conference (fiction) in Salem (?) in the the middle of August.


In the meantime, I need a nap.