Writing Assignments: Day Two

Yesterday, I started my writing assignment project (click here for the post). I'll be writing one post a day for 60 days, with the amount of time spent on each post corresponding to the number of days I've been in this little personally prescribed writing clinic (i.e. day three gets three minutes). While I'm well aware this project will become increasingly more time-consuming and potentially difficult to budget for in my day, I'm really hopping it puts me back in the swing of writing everything down with ease.

For today, I'll continue where I left off on yesterday's post, since I have more to say on the topic. For your reference, here's yesterday's assignment:

Day One: One Minute
Topic: Holiday Gifts

This year I made almost all of the gifts I gave out. For my roommates, I crocheted scarves (out of yarn I had them choose, so I knew they'd like the color). I made scarves for members of my family too.


Day Two: Two Minutes
Topic: Holiday Gifts (continued from yesterday)

I did a little experimenting with crochet stitches while I was home too. Normally, I crochet the width of the scarf first and then just build up the length from there. For the first time, while I was home for the holidays, I made a scarf length-ways. My grandmother got that one. It was two-toned. I would have kept it for myself, because I liked it that much, but I already had one of that color (or at least one of those colors). I made scarves for my grandmother, my aunt and some of my friends.

...

Out of time. It's looking like I can get a couple of days out of this topic. Stick with me and I'll get down to the good stuff (like the lip salve I made from scratch!).

Finding People in the Blogosphere: Blast from the Past

I'm absolutely amazed. Five or six years ago, when I was looking at colleges, I visited the University of Washington's daily paper. At the time, I was editor-in-chief of my high school paper (Cat Tracks) and I thought it was super important to establish a relationship with the staff at the paper before choosing a school--Really, it was a practice I should have been more diligent about keeping up, because I hardly set foot in the newsroom at BU in my four years there.

In any case, one of the people I met at the U-Dub newsroom googled my name and came up with my blog. And he left me a comment on the most current post he found--a post on new year's resolutions (one of which was to post more, which I don't seem to be doing that well at).

In such close proximity to the new year, it's really nice to be reminded of what I thought was really important six years ago. I loved writing, which is why I was applying to journalism programs. At the time, I remember feeling like journalists could expose important truths of history in the making by being the first eyes on the seen. I believed, as I still do to some extent, that the fourth estate was and is charged with the upkeep of the first amendment more so than the government that founded that right. That responsibility necessitates unbiased reporting.



It's funny how a blog can connect people who haven't spoken, or even thought about one another, in six years. I would expect such interactions to take place on Facebook or MySpace, but my blog has become an unexpected vehicle for reigniting past connections--and a way to remind me of the changes I've made in the past few years. What an unexpected way to start my day.