Loyalty, Love and Self-Knowledge (in your twenties) – what Carrie Bell discovers

I love that my mother passes on her novels to me — most of the books she’s read usually becomes one of my favorites, or I find books to read that are similar (which are mainly about fictional stories with real life and death experiences). Ann Packer’s The Dive From Clausen’s Pier is definitely one of those books that will take up a space in my heart, since I could relate with some of the feelings. It made me realize that you eventually have to accept who you are, and sometimes an escape can help discover those findings, as well as realizing who you really owe your love to. Carrie Bell, the 23 year-old fashion junkie from Madison, Wisconsin discovers how and whom she needs to love, as well as her own identity, throughout her journey.

Carrie and her 23 year-old boyfriend Mike Mayer have been together for eight years, but things seem rocky to begin with when the story starts. On Memorial Day, Carrie and Mike meet up with their friends at Clausen’s Reservoir: Rooster, Mike’s best friend; Jamie, Carrie’s best friend; Christine and her boyfriend Bill, along with another friend named Stu. Everyone here is enjoying life post-college, and Carrie still remains working at Wisconsin University’s library.

Carrie, however, is in a mood; she’s distant from the group, especially with Mike. Jamie notices that her best friend isn’t acting like herself, but Carrie claims that she’s fine. To encourage some fun, Rooster and Stu dare Mike to dive. Mike playfully questions his friends whether he should do it or not, and all cheer him on to do so. But little did Mike and Carrie’s friend knew that the water levels were still a bit low for swimming season — Mike dives, and then ends up in Intensive Care with a broken neck and paralyzed from the arms down, in a coma.

Carrie tries to retrace her love that she once had for Mike, but it becomes difficult: she doesn’t cry until about four weeks later, when Mike finally wakes up. At this point, Mike is diagnosed as quadriplegic and forever spends his life in a wheelchair. Carrie finds it difficult to visit Mike in rehab more and more as the weeks go by; her mother, Mrs. Bell, Rooster and Jamie notice that her interest in Mike is suddenly falling, regardless of his condition.

During a dinner with one of Carrie’s co-workers named Viktor, she meets his alluring friend whom is visiting named Kilroy, a native from New York City. Kilroy shows his interest in Carrie, but he had already sensed that she’s involved in a serious relationship. Although Kilroy tries to impress Carrie with his pool skills, it would not be the last night they see each other ever again.

Carrie happens to reconnect with a high school classmate named Simon, who’s also visiting from New York City. Carrie notices something different about Simon, and he tells her he’s openly gay and studying art and theatre at The Big Apple. Carrie suddenly feels comforted by Simon, and opens up to him about her pressuring feelings about Mike; she doesn’t think she’s in love with him anymore, but she can’t manage to take off the engagement ring he gave her.

In order to escape the confusion and guilt, Carrie travels to New York City to live with Simon, without saying goodbye to anyone in Madison. Two days before Carrie’s adventure, she spots Jamie’s teen sister, Lynn, waiting for a man outside a sketchy area of town, whom she met while waitressing at a restaurant she works at. Wearing a short skirt with teased hair and heavy eyeliner, Lynn begs Carrie not to say a word about it to Jamie. Carrie keeps her promise, but later in the story the reader will find out that keeping that promise was never worth it…

Carrie then has the desire to find Kilroy; she finds him at a bar called McClanahan’s that he constantly talked about. The two get to know each other more, and end up having a night of romance back at Kilroy’s apartment. The next morning, Kilroy finally tells Carrie is age: FORTY. But that never scared Carrie away; it only it brought her closer to him and she eventually forgot about her friends and family back in Madison, even though Kilroy keeps many secrets from her. It takes a few discoveries to find the answers to Kilroy’s secrets, and it takes one phone call from a friend, a cry for help, to challenge Carrie on what she intends to do next – who really deserves her love?

My Evaluation: 

I would love to summarize the whole book for you if I could, but that would be unfair since this is a review. In 42 chapters, Packer bulks many themes, scenes and conflicts in an entertaining and descriptive manner. It’s a juicy book, and because there’s so many characters involved, I wondered if a reader of this novel attempted to write fan fictional stories of them, like what their side of the story is while Carrie was gone.

I found this novel to be overwhelmingly peaceful, fucked up, and somber. There were times I wish I could’ve just teleported my fist through the pages to punch Carrie in the face. Carrie isn’t known to be a very likable character because of the grief she causes among friends, families, lovers and herself. She’s selfish and in her twenties and fucking confused. She stopped loving Mike sometime way before the accident, and him becoming paralyzed might’ve been her cue. However, I can’t exactly hate her either; like Rooster and Jamie say to her, “I’m mad at you, but I understand how you feel”.

I think in your twenties it’s incredibly hard to be in love for such a long period of time – you’re discovering who you are and what you want still, and how to love. I only know this because I’m still experiencing it with numerous situations.

It’s a great read — actually, I found it quite comforting because I think anybody could relate to a few of the themes in the novel (although you’ll never admit it).

4/5 Stars

My Edition: 

The Dive From Clausen’s Pier is published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, April 16, 2002

ISBN 0375412824 (hardcover with jacket)

$24 when first published, about $13 on Amazon.com as of 2013.

LIFETIME MOVIE COMPARISON (iTunes and Amazon, $3.99 to buy – rent n/a)

***SPOILERS!*** Read at your own risk (if you haven’t read the book). 

I guess the old saying is that movies based on books never follow the actual book, and I was pretty hurt to have my eyes open to that by this Lifetime movie.

To start on positive notes, this movie really brought the characters alive. Michelle Trachtenburg (Harriet the Spy) plays an awesome Carrie, and Will Estes (The Dark Night Rises) is a great role for Mike. The acting was well for an hour and a half movie, but the directors REALLY twisted up the plot — I mean, REALLY fucked with it. They try to make Carrie appear to be less extreme with her decisions, and Kilroy as a sweeter guy. They pulled it off well, but because I liked this book so much, I took note of the obvious – I found of these changes either really good or stupid. But then again, how could you fit so many details in an hour from 42 chapters?!:

• Julie Mayer, Mike’s little sister doesn’t exist. John Junior, Mike’s youngest sibling, only has one or two cameo shots. Miss Wolf only had a single cameo shot as well. Her death and significance were not present in the film.
• Other missing characters: Lynn, Mixie, Alice, Bill, Harvey, Dave King, Ania, Maura and Jeff.
• She’s Carrie Beal, not Carrie Bell.
• Carrie cries after the accident – in the book, she doesn’t cry until Mike wakes from his coma.
• After Mike’s accident, he rudely asks Nurse Joan to change the channel. In the book, that’s his rehab roommate Jeff’s job.
• Kilroy tells Carrie that he’s 35 — in the book, he tells her he’s 40.
• Dillion, Simon’s love interest, is African American. In the book, he’s described as snotty and blonde (nothing is wrong with this, however. After watching the movie, I realized the lack of diversity in Packer’s novel – I like how Dillion’s black instead).
• Nurse Joan is described tall and blonde as well. In the movie, she’s played by Raquel Duffy.
• When Kilroy tells Carrie that she’s “barking up the wrong tree”, he lets her walk out. In the book: before she walks out, he asks her to go to dinner with him.
• Since there’s no Lynn in the movie, Rooster calls Carrie in the beginning of December updating her that Jamie’s mother is in rehab again (this part comes MUCH later in the book). Although he notifies that he’s marrying Joan, he doesn’t state when the wedding will be — he just asks Carrie to come home for Christmas, which she does not.
• She cancels her flight the day before the holidays after a steamy, sexy night with Kilroy – in the book, Kilroy convinces Carrie to stay to take her to a park in NYC.
• Instead of giving her a picture he took from France, Kilroy gives Carrie a sketchbook for Christmas as a diary to keep her fashion ideas and collections.
• Kilroy and Carrie don’t share that mysterious moment on top of the Empire State building (that means Maura never existed, either).
• Kilroy never receives a letter from his parents, it’s a single phone call instead. During Carrie’s celebration with Kilroy, Simon and Lane of starting fashion school, Kilroy pulls Carrie to the side and tells her he must visit his parents. Carrie convinces him to invite her. IN THE BOOK. . . Kilroy receives a letter from his parents about the mysterious date and Carrie sneaks into his coat pocket to read it (while he’s at work). She still convinces him to take her, but the day before they go, they go on a trip outside of New York for the night.
• Rooster’s wedding takes place in the spring season. After Carrie’s argument with Kilroy, she leaves to go to the wedding. She never gets a call from Jamie, although Jamie shows that she is angry at her. IN THE BOOK. . . Rooster invited Carrie to the wedding three days before Christmas and she bailed. Carrie only returned to Madison to revive the friendship with Jamie.
• Jamie forgives Carrie right away. IN THE BOOK, Jamie is much harder and colder – it takes days for Carrie to get Jamie to talk to her again.
• Stu is still around. IN THE BOOK, Rooster tells Carrie that Stu was embarrassed by Mike because he’s handicapped.
• Rooster’s wedding takes place at the Mayers’ home. IN THE BOOK. . . lol, this never happened. I think they needed to skip the first two weeks of Carrie’s return and they smashed it into one…whole…event. Haha.
• Kilroy flies to Madison to win back Carrie. IN THE BOOK, Kilroy keeps in contact with Carrie until she loses interest in calling him. Weeks later, her fancy Bernina sewing machine is mailed to her from Kilroy…that’s when she finally calls him back and discovers more about his life.
• Kilroy admits to Carrie that his frustration is built upon the death of his brother, Thomas Michael Fraser. He tells Carrie that he died in an accident. OHHH BUT WAIT A MINUTE…IN THE BOOK, Kilroy and Carrie are discussing this over the phone. Kilroy’s brother is just named “Mike” and his cause of death was leukemia (why did they have the need to screw the climax up?)
• Kilroy begs Carrie to start over and to come back with him to NYC. Carrie peacefully, with a kiss, breaks up with him and tells him she’s staying in Madison. IN THE BOOK, Kilroy tells Carrie how much she’s destroyed him by not returning and ends the relationship over the phone.

My final words: the movie is fun to watch, but the book is better.

The Next Chapter

It’s about time I experienced a semi-decent semester at the University of Nevada, Reno – I got to do some REAL journalism work, and I expanded my mind to classes that I hate and will never have to take again.

I got two perfect A’s in Nevada Media Alliance and Data journalism. My KNPB package I worked on with Stephanie turned out wonderfully – I even got an official copy of the episode on a special DVD. You can watch it online at the NVMA site. Stephanie, the audio/video maven, narrated the episode as I interviewed our sources about all-day kindergarten in Nevada. I think we both kicked ass on writing the script as well.

Here’s a photo I took of when my team and I toured the KNPB station. On screen, you’ll see our episode getting ready to air! This was on April 19th:

NVMA is a permanent and new addition to the Donald W. Reynolds School of Journalism. I’m debating whether I want to do it again or not, and I’m thinking I’m should. I’m graduating in December and I would be taking about 18 credits if I joined again, and only 2 or 3 original members who reported on the legislature would return. The topic to report next semester is the reinventing or the rebirth of Reno’s economy. I discovered that covering this topic would benefit me in many ways:

I recently got hired as an intern at the Reno Gazette-Journal to report on their new blog called Reno Rebirth, which covers the recovery of the city’s economy and community. I’m incredibly excited because I’ve been wanting this internship for so long, and this blog allows VOICE in the reporting. I also get to expand my knowledge on Reno’s economy. I officially begin June 4th and I already have some decent story ideas down. Oh, and Brent Boynton, the news director of KNPB said that he would like me and the RGJ to contribute our Reno Rebirth work with KNPB! I’m kicking my feet up in the air as if I were a child who just found out that they’re going to Disneyland for the weekend; I’m so damn excited to be a part of this.

Rejoining NVMA for my next (and last) semester would be definitely beneficial for me because I would I know the subject by then, and I could continue reporting on it. Also, I would get my name out even more by the time I graduate. Gosh, I’m so spoiled!

So don’t worry, I will be linking my articles from Reno Rebirth on JOURNALISchick as well as sharing my experiences working at one of Reno’s greatest news desks. I have to write experiences anyway in order to receive three credits — but I don’t mind doing that regardless.

What else has happend? On May 7th, I received the Charles H. Stout Foundation scholarship. I forgot the amount (most scholarship recipients do), but what’s so special about this scholarship is that this foundation helped supported the NVMA to purchase the amazing media tools to make the team who we are today (and obviously, you’ve seen that we’re pretty damn amazing). Although this scholarship lasts for about a year and I have one semester left, I think I might use up the remaining scholarship to take some courses to get back into my old hobbies, if it gets difficult finding a job (drawing, choir, guitar, writing…).

My project about BLMNV and the mustangs for Data journalism came out okay, but not as good as I wanted. It’s a huge topic I’d like to investigate when the topic is hot again — you can click here to check out what I’ve gathered: http://mustangsofunrnv.wordpress.com/

Other than that, my remaining grades are okay – B+ in Women & Lit, B+ in Core Humanities, and I got very lucky with a C+ in Mircoeconomics (eff that class). But it definitely brought my GPA up higher. I’m also moving out of my apartment and moving into a secluded area away from crazy party animals (I’m such an old lady about this).

Before I go, check out the Reinventing Reno website UNR students put together with business journalist, Micki Maynard! I believe this is what the next group of NVMA would be reporting on. One of the writers even earned the Steven Martarano Best Published Article Award!

Up next: 2 book reviews and another update.

Nepotism in the Newsroom: 5 Easy Ways to Cope in a Workplace

ONCE UPON A TIME, I worked in a newsroom that had a great involvement of favoritism/nepotism. One of my editors hired his girlfriend on the team to take over one of the sections of our paper. Since then, it seems like she’s had it easy; he always gave good feedback to her about her articles, while the rest of us had to deal with the harsher side of criticism. A couple of us took this to offense at the time because not only did we put our heart and soul into the writing and editing, but it was just completely obvious!

He liked helping her out a lot, too. Sometimes, he would help me out with my section, but for majority of the time, I was the one who was writing about eight articles per week. A few of my co-workers have noticed that my editor had strange priorities, and it might’ve been the reason why the newsroom had such poor management. I discussed with one of my co-workers if they’ve been noticing the favoritism and she told me that she did. In fact, it was aggravating her just as much as it was aggravating me; if not, more.

So here’s how we ended up handling the situation: we discussed it with our managing editor, who seemed quite open and understanding of our concerns. The funny thing was that she almost wanted to agree with us; she wanted to join in with our complaints but being the classy lady that she was, she couldn’t spill out any of her emotions (although her facial expressions showed it). After that, she went spoke to that editor, but did not mention our names.

And he took it to offense, instead; he and his girlfriend felt that the entire newsroom was against them because we, as a crew, felt that there was too much nepotism involved. The girlfriend even considered quitting because of it and he wanted to resolve it all with a “group meeting”.

However, I disagreed to have that happen. There doesn’t need to be a group meeting to discuss the favoritism about them two. In my opinion, here’s what a real boss should do: have a meeting with his girlfriend instead and discuss how they could avoid this kind of situation again. I mean, they’re both love birds working together, what else is there to discuss (unless they don’t have common sense)? They thought we all thought we hated her, which was not the case. It’s the favoritism we didn’t like.

I understand why he would want a group meeting to get some outside opinions but I just felt that it was going too far with it. The managing editor reported a couple of complaints about an obvious situation (that’s their problem and they know it), so why get everyone involved?

I’d like to say that they aren’t horrible people at all (although his girlfriend is quite the sour puss). They’re pretty bright and friendly people! But why cause trouble?

It scared for me for a while when I heard that they both felt offended by this. It was a yellow flag for me saying that their relationship could be POSSIBLY a lot more important than this job.

Before I make this post any longer than it should be, here’s my explanation of what the importance of this post is: Nepotism and favoritism is quite common among workplaces, and from my experience, it could be a tough situation to handle (and sometimes, people have to quit their job because of it). So here’s some advice from the things I learned in order to (calmly) cope with nepotism and favoritism in a workplace:

1. To clear things up a bit, the definition of nepotism is favoritism upon kinship, relatives or friends. Even though my examples aren’t related to each other, they act like they’re gonna get married, so what the hell.

2. Keep record of your suspections. How does the boss favor the other employee? What does the boss do for the employer that he doesn’t do for others? Is he more easy going towards the favorite?

3. Do some research, but keep it classy. You could ask one of your co-workers to see if they’re noticing any favoritism. However, don’t talk down about them. Focus on the main points of your concerns when you talk to a co-worker: “Does it seem like to you that our boss acts a lot differently towards that employer?” (Of course, you could probably phrase this much better than I can). If the co-worker begins to talk down about them, let them know that the boss being an ass, for example, is not your concern. But anyway, if the favoritism increases between the boss and the employee, you will have a co-worker or two to help explain the situation to a supervisor.

4. Trust your gut and pay attention to the past. Gut instincts are (usually) always right. And, it’s also important to focus on your boss’s behavior patterns with former employees when they’re hiring others.

5. Keep stress and motivation in check. Even if you receive the most critical criticism, continue to do your best and top-notch work. Those who do very well in their professions are expected to eat the harsh criticism anyway. 

6. Had it? Report it. Don’t do this if you’re letting your anger get in the way. Only report favoritism when you’ve noticed it’s constant, and when your other co-workers agree to take this with a supervisor. Favoritism is a stressful situation to deal with, but do it when the time is right. This is why it’s good to keep a personal journal of what you’ve witnessed (because I did).

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to deal with nepotism in a workplace. Sometimes, it’s never solved or it just has to be ignored. But if it worsens, you might want to contact a higher position of the company or an attorney, according to HR Hero.com.

When I did my research with my situation, I found out that he hired his girlfriend over another applicant who applied for the same position (and the person who applied for that position told me). Unfortunately, talking to the managing editor was the most I could do but any experience that you can get is good — even if it’s the crappiest. And, it won’t be tolerated in the future.

Where I’ve Been:

I get that you can’t forgive me for this, but I think I have pretty legit excuses.

For the past Mondays and Wednesdays, I’ve been reporting like crazy at the legislature. If you’ve been following our blog, you can see that we post as much as we can four days a week. 

I’ve been learning something new about Nevada’s politics each day, even from my teammate’s articles. Wednesdays are usually the busiest days for me because I have two classes back-to-back from each other once I return to Reno. I insist on dressing nice and looking good, too, so that takes up some time.

I also work seven hours on Tuesdays after two other back-to-back classes. Nobody memorable has walked in or called the Planetarium these days. Lately, it’s been quiet and normal (and really boring).

I’ve made a few new friends, so I’d like to spend time with them as well, especially since I have a lot in common with one of them! We’re hoping to start a band since she plays the bass and sings, too (except, I’m the guitarist).

I work for about 4-5 hours on weekends, and I’m usually exhausted by the end of the day. I don’t get to really rest or rejuvenate until Monday hits (surprisingly) because it’s the only day I can allow myself to sleep past 10 am! I used to go to Carson on Mondays but we decided to switch things up (and this ended up being a good idea).

So it’s obvious that I’ve found time to write a freakin’ post; it’s one of the most wonderful things about Spring Break. I have a list of ideas that I’ll be blogging about this whole week in order to make up however many weeks I’ve missed: I have a couple of books I’d like to attempt to write reviews on and I now have the power and confidence to write an article I’ve been meaning to write (you’ll see).

Here in peaceful little Fallon, behind me my mother is baking cake pops that are colored green, white and orange for St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow (her side of the family is Irish, which makes me Irish, so we’ll be celebrating). My father is doing well and is outside trying to get the power hose to work. The dogs are anxiously waiting for him to get it to work so they can bite the jet stream of water. And as for my brother…he’s just being the teenage boy that he is, hanging out in his room.

Hopefully, I’ll get to see some old friends while I’m at it. I’m getting my hair dyed and cut professionally for the first time in over a year on Friday, too. And now, I can’t help but enjoy myself by eating sour apple flavored licorice that my mother is using to decorate the cake pops with. We’re both kind of having a hard time trying to shape them as clovers to put on top of the icing. Here’s how they look so far:

Because it’s Spring Break, I also have the time to get back to my projects. I’m working on a short story to submit to a fiction class I want to take next semester. On top of it, I’ll just work on my other two novels as well — why the hell not?

It’s really nice to get away from Reno for a week — it’s much needed. Lately, it’s been the same old routine everyday socially, academically and emotionally. I’m actually getting sick of college because I’m ready to move on and focus on just writing and journalism. I was walking through campus last week and thinking, Man, I’m just getting too old for this (however, I’m only 21. Ha. Ha.).

Doing the same old routines in college reminds me of breaking up with a boy I fell hard for in high school; I couldn’t move past him because I was focusing on him so much and it took me two years to stop caring about him. My constant focus on him was holding me back from a lot of things. I feel like something’s holding me back from graduating, even though there really isn’t. And luckily, this feeling is under good circumstances. I guess I could call it slow motion with the way I’m feelin’.

I’ll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s one blog post you could read that I had a chance to write, for NVMA: http://nvmediaalliance.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/achievement-unlocked-report-the-first-month-of-77th-session/

Investigative Reporting Tips from Vanity Fair’s Suzanna Andrews

My data and narrative journalism professor, Alan Deutschman, introduces some really amazing and inspiring journalists to the university. I mean, these people work for big time papers and magazines.

The guest he brought to us this week grabbed my full attention and is probably my favorite guest he’s brought so far. It was Suzanna Andrews, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, who writes features and investigative articles on business, politics, culture and crime — in her definition, her theme of writing is “abuse of power”.

She’s also written for other numerous publications such as The New York Times, GQ, Rolling Stone, and Reader’s Digest. She was also a story consultant to ABC’s “20/20”. She’s won a couple of Front Page awards for her features on Vanity Fair.

As a class assignment and in order to prepare to ask her questions, we were required to read two of her most impacting articles, Murder Most Yale and Arthur Miller’s Missing Act (I suggest you read both of them — they’re really good).

Both feature stories required so much investigation, stalking, credible information, and main sources. How did she do it all? Andrews shares her helpful investigative tips to the class and especially her experiences while writing these stories.

Murder Most Yale is a feature investigative article by Andrews based on the murder of Yale student, Suzanne Jovin, in 1998. It’s a case that is still under investigation today; they say it’s the “college version” of the Jon Benet Ramsey case. Andrews focuses the timeline of the night of the murder in her story, but mainly focuses on the people that surrounded Jovin’s life to find more information on the case.

Jovin’s story was first published in the New York Times — and Andrews said that this story “needed a lot of play”

Finding Personal Recommendations

As you may have noticed in the article, the police weren’t as involved. Andrews said with most crime stories, there will be slim chances that a reporter will get information from the police. Instead of constant calls and emails to set up interviews, Andrews recommends following them instead.

As a semi-experienced reporter, I find it difficult how to contact the main sources I need to talk to for my stories. Some connections may not always lead you to that significant source, but apparently the ones you’d never think who would have any contact with them might actually do! Andrews said during her investigation to find Jovin’s closest friends to interview them, she gotten from a word-of-mouth that a restaurant owner nearby Yale was pretty popular among the students — they loved him. When Andrews approached him, he was able to connect her with Jovin’s friends.

Andrews said each story has source circles; you have to work your way into the hub. You start interviewing those on the outside of the circle: Aquaintinces –> Close friends –> Parents –> Suzanne.

“It gives me time to think about the story and what to collect,” Andrews said. “When I get to the center of the story, I feel like I know the story as much as they do, or better.”

If you get enough attention, your sources might come to you

Andrews said she had a difficult time getting a hold of Jovin’s parents for an interview. After attempts with a few phone calls with them, she had to end up emailing them the interview instead. During the phone calls, the mother could not stop sobbing and the father refused to talk.

“I was horrified calling the parents,” Andrews said. “It was clear to me that they were grief stricken and angry.”

Andrews said you can’t always fire questions; sometimes its best to play it off as a conversation.

“There’s that element of authenticity, too,” Andrews said. “You want to get people to talk.”

However, Jovin’s younger sister approached Andrews with a phone called and accepted an interview. Somehow, she found Andrews.

Andrews said getting in contact with James Van de Velde was one of the most difficult parts writing the story. Van de Velde was Jovin’s professor and thesis adviser, and is a suspect of her murder. Andrews said she could only get a hold of Van de Velde’s emissaries or friends. One emissary of Van de Velde’s that Andrews got to interview was a woman. Like the rest of Van de Velde’s friends, it was expected that this woman would say nothing but good words about the professor. However, Andrews said the woman had different thoughts about Van de Velde and saw him the night of the killing.

“(The story) consumed my life,” Andrews said. “It’s a psychological rage.”

Andrews said during the time of writing this feature, she played out possible scenarios in her head and timed the driving and distances within the area of where Jovin’s body was found.

Does Andrews think Van de Velde killed Jovin? She said yes, but she doesn’t have an exact reason why she was so drawn to write this story.

“I kind of wondered that myself,” Andrews said. “I felt like I was lead to it. I didn’t feel like I was going to nail the professor, but the story latches on to you.”

Andrews’ Arthur Miller’s Missing Act is based on playwright, Arthur Miller (Death Of A Salesman, The Crucible, A View From the Bridge and ex-husband of Marilyn Monroe) and the abandonment of his son, Daniel Miller, who was diagnosed with down-syndrome as an infant.    Miller cut Daniel out of his life immediately and never mentioned him when he brought up his children in books, interviews and even at his wife’s funeral. For 40 years, Daniel was kept as a secret. When Miller died in 2005, it was known to the public that he did not leave a will, but he actually did, and left Daniel a good portion of his money to last him for the rest of his lifetime.

Andrews said it was almost a possibility that Vanity Fair didn’t run article due to the intense emotion of the story and that it could offend those who have a child of down-syndrome of their own. But everyone knew it was a story that deserved attention.

Rebecca Miller, Daniel’s sister and a daughter of Miller’s, is now a close member of her family. Rebecca didn’t allow Andrews to speak to Daniel. In fact, Rebecca and her husband, Daniel Day-Lewis, were disgusted by Andrews’ story. Andrews said she thinks Rebecca was afraid for the safety of her brother.

“This story was fought very hard by Arthur Miller’s family,” Andrews said.

Andrews had the chance to speak to one of Daniel’s caregivers, however. Andrews said she was on the web for days just to find connections between Miller and Daniel. She ended up on a Vietnam Veteran chatroom and spoke to a member who saw Daniel at a party. The member she spoke to in the chat room ended up being the husband of Daniel’s caregiver.

Andrews said when she called up the caregiver for an interview, the caregiver said, “It’s about time.”

After Andrews’ lecture, I feel that I can be more confident in expanding my choices when writing a hard or feature story. So I think I have until tomorrow to meet one-on-one with Andrews in Professor Deutschman’s office until she has to go back to her home in New York City. I would love to see if I have time  to have coffee with her for a more personal talk, but even just a handshake and a short conversation might do well — whatever the outcome is, it’s worth it, right?

Follow Suzanna Andrews on Twitter!: https://twitter.com/AndrewsSuzanna

Nevada Legislature is firing up

Last Friday, my media alliance and I got the chance to tour our newsrooms in Carson City and Legislative buildings! I’m so happy that I’m going to be learning about local politics, since it’s something my brain desperately needs to learn (I know that sounds super dramatic, but it’s true!). It’s such a great and new fresh start to my journalism career, and I think this project will be much better organized. I can already feel the guilt and nasty spirits from last semester slowly (but surely) departing from my body.

For the past week, we’ve been preparing ourselves to become superstar legislative reporters. I believe tomorrow we’re going to figure out mini groups to go to Carson together, so we all have a chance to cover something each week. We just launched our website Monday and some of us have assigned stories already, like me.

I’m hoping to (and still trying to) cover Assembly bill no. 42 by the end of this week. AB42 establishes the Nevada Cyber Institute throughout the Nevada System of Higher Education. The NCI will provide courses that is going to practice techniques of cyber security. If this bill passes, this institute will be offered throughout most universities, community and state colleges in Nevada.

Since it’s uncertain that this bill is going to pass and since the Nevada Legislature is getting ready to start on February 4th, everybody in the State offices are running around like nuts (or, more appropiately, traveling to cities back and fourth and preapring as well). Therefore, it’s very difficult to get a hold of people for interviews, on top of classes which one of them requires me to read a 39 chapter book by Kate Chopin before Monday. However, my data journalism class is my perfect companion for this project since I’ll be learning how to hardcore stalk and access information. My first assignment a few weeks ago was to acess personal information about a local public figure (our professor purchased an Intelius report for each student in the class!).

So I’m feeling a bit down in the dumps right now, possibly feeling a hint of failure because I was unable to speak to my sources before the end of this week. However, I will put a band-aid on this temporary fail, and see what the hell I can do about it tomorrow.

Since I’m back into the swing of things with writing essays and serious objective articles, my mind is trying to resist to use my voice in my writing since it’s, like, FORBIDDEN in most school work…

I’m just sitting here on the thrid floor of the library, taking glances at my phone, hoping  somebody will at least return one of my calls. I’m sitting in between two people who are studying, possibly annoying them with my loud typing skills. So with the weekend coming up, I have so many plans and so many things to complete and cover. Eventually, I get where I want to be with this blog. No way am I giving up!

-Molly

The People Who Walk Into the Planetarium

Hi! Welcome! Hello. How are you today? 

These are my four greetings to the people who walk in the planetarium. I do startle some of them when I interject these greetings because I’m trying to come off as friendly and warm. Instead, I’m some loud fruit ball that probably seems nice.

The people who walk into the planetarium are all shapes and sizes; different colors, styles and ages. Duh.

Really, sometimes their appearances are the safer to observe because they all have very different personalities. Some of them will make me feel happy that I have this job and others…make me want to run away.

Themanwiththenonstoptalkingdisability:

“Iwanttobuythisrocketship, hey! didyouknowthisfrabblegabblegabblebop?” 

There’s a man who comes in every once in a while and he talks really fast and changes the subject after speaking two words. I cannot point out the disability that he has. Sometimes, he can be a little too friendly. I think the last conversation he tried to have with me was something about space and porn, and complimented about how pretty I was.

He’s a big astronomy fan, probably a little bit bigger than I. He’s like 70-something with a long, white beard, wearing one of our star shirts that we sell for $15. He forgot to cut off the tags and the “It Glows-in-the-Dark!” sticker when he purchased it a while ago. This time, he wanted to buy a toy rocket ship.

“Whenthisplanetpassesthesunand hey! IwatchedwatcheditonTV.” 

I usually nod my head to his conversations. Majority of my dialogues consist of “Oh, okay” and “Uh-huh”. My boss, JoAnne, will be watching from her office with her hands on her hips, rolling her eyes at the ridiculousness.

 

 

 

 

The Retired Competitors 

Sometimes, I’ll have old people walk in and challenge me about my knowledge in astronomy. I don’t know everything, but I am capable of explaining some things.

“How far can I zoom in with the different lenses in that telescope?”

“Sir, I wish I could answer that for you but my associate director will be able to—”

(And then you’ll hear a “hah” coming from under his breath) “But you don’t know,”

At this point, I’m trying to stay calm. I look at him straight into the eye. He knows he made a jackass out of himself and he wants to avoid the situation.

“I don’t, but that’s why I would like to introduce you to my associate director so he can provide you with the correct information,”

And then I guess he felt super guilty about his attitude and immediately changed the subject with a different tone of voice. “Oh, okay so what’s your major?”

 

 

The Mean Elderly People (and it’s still your fault) 

Another situation I had to deal with kinda consisted with my faults; I was typing away on my computer at the front desk while people were shopping in the gift shop. An elderly lady tapped the top of my computer and said, “Wake up!” 

Excuse ME? 

“I…am?” was the only thing I responded with. I was offended and confused at the same time.

“No you weren’t, no you weren’t.” 

“I’m sorry, I was typing out my homework,” (MY BAD–SERIOUSLY)

“Mhm, sure.” 

My entire body froze and my eyes just locked on her. Am I seriously putting up with a 67-year-old who acts like a 13-year-old? No, she wasn’t being silly or joking around!

When she noticed my shock, she changed the subject immediately; she took a kids’ astronaut costume off the rack and gushed over it. My eyes were still locked on hers and I didn’t say a word. She approaches me at the desk and asks,

“So what are you majoring in?”

I tell her.

“Oh, journalism! My son used to do journalism. Now he’s just a manager at a hotel,” 

Since then, I have not brought my computer to the front desk.

 

 

The Walking Storybooks 

These are the people who insist standing at the front desk to tell their life story for 30 minutes straight. They’re usually people in their mid 50s that are in deep love or have kids. Very awkward, I must say. I don’t know how to respond to most of them. I do a lot of fake laughing.

“We went to the planetarium when we first met a few months ago and we bought this moon that you can hang on the wall and it lights up. It’s so amazing, and we use it every night…”

 

 

The Ultimate Believer 

It was a week before December 21st, 2012 the known date for the end of the world. On the same day when the nonstop-talking-disability man came in, a scrawny man with very little hair on his head, with a sweater on, comes in and asks two strange questions.

“Hi…….is there a video class in here?” 

“Um, no. You’re at the planetarium.”

“Do you know where the video class would be?”

I simply had no clue about it. I just suggested that he’d check out the library.

“Thank you. Also, I would like to know if I could speak to…a professional about a space related question?”

“I could try to answer!” I happily said.

“Because December 21st is coming up, do you know what time Nibiru would be intersecting our orbit?”

I stare at him blankly.

“Nibiru is an unknown planet in our Solar System and it’s supposed to go through our orbit and collide with Earth. It’s believed that it was the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs billions of years ago,”

“I very much doubt that will happen, sir.”

I wanted to die.

 

 

The Oblivious 

We have posters hanging up on the walls. Some of them are of the Milky Way Galaxy and the Periodic Table of the Elements. One man came in with his wife and was so intrigued by the Milky Way Galaxy poster. The art of the galaxy on the poster had billions of stars and nebula circling inside it, all the way to the Galactic Center, just like we imagine it. The Galactic Center is actually a black hole and surrounded by high density of matter and large groups of stars, which makes it very bright, like this:

It’s a peaceful picture. I like to look at it sometimes.

It’s peaceful, until, all of a sudden, I’m asked:

“Why is it bright in the middle? Is that our sun or another big sun?” 

It almost brought me to tears.

 

 

The Nice Mom

Our planetarium hosts birthday parties for kids. I was hosting one a few weeks ago for a 5-year-old boy named Walker, who had an extreme obsession with Spiderman (the family requested red and blue table cloths, his presents were wrapped in Spiderman themes and of course, he had a Spiderman cake).

I helped 10 kids put together their own kaleidoscopes as a craft and helped prepared food, gifts and other settings for Walker’s parents and guests.

Walker’s mother was actually a very nice woman; she curled her long brown hair for her son’s big day and she was very patient and social. While we were waiting for the rest of her guests, Walker and his friends were in awe with the toys in the gift shop. A lady who was another visitor at the planetarium that day were watching the kids play and said,

“It’s so sad what happened to those children in Connecticut,”

Awkward…even though this was the day after the shooting at the time. Nobody really likes talking about it, or even thinking about it.

“I mean, I can’t imagine how the parents feel. It’s so sad,” 

Walker’s mother and I just stand there, trying to ignore as she kills the mood. Shut up, lady.

“He shot up all of those babies. So sad.” 

K. Shut up.
After ignoring her for a while, she finally walks away. Somberly.

Anyways, I enjoyed serving Walker’s mother. I felt really bad for her, though, when she tried to order pizza and it was a little too late. The pizza business that she called told her that their oven was broken.

But her and I worked together well and she gave me a $20 tip at the end.

This is just a collection of some of my favorite people who walked in so far. By April, it will be a year since I’ve been working at the planetarium. It’s really the best job in the world. You learn so much academically and socially, even though the pay sucks.

Here are a couple of phone calls that I received from customers in December of 2012. NOTE – I face palmed to these questions because they make your brain hurt!:

“Yeah, hi, I have a question for you. I’ve been watching the sun rise and the sun set throughout all of my life; it’s a really beautiful experience. But the other morning when I was watching the sun rise, the moon appeared at the same time as the sun in the sky. Does this have anything to do with the apocalypse?” 

Answer. 

“Hello, I was wondering if the planets are going to align on December 21st? Where can I look at this?”

Answer (under Planetary Alignment). 

FOR FUN – A freaky question over the phone that my boss, JoAnne had to answer in the late 90s:

“Before the comet, Halle-Bop, impacts the Earth, what do you suggest I do? Should I commit suicide before it happens?” 

(Of course, she answered no. This question relates to the religious suicide pact in 1997, Heaven’s Gate).

First Saturday, First Post.

Imagine if a human had 900 years to live without the aging and health problems. Like, what if a 65-year-old looked like they were still in their 20s with good health?

Anyway, let’s just pretend all of those kind of goodies are available in your 900 years of lifetime. Now, without getting killed (or killing yourself), what else would you do during your 900 years of life?

The answer is simple: everything that you’ve always wanted to do. What if you had all the time in the world to achieve and fulfill 200+ of your dreams?

Obviously, it’s possible (but difficult) to do that within 70 to 100 years of your life. But remember when you were a kid, you went back and forth of what you wanted to be when you grew up? I believe those kind of career interests will stick with you for the rest of your life. It’s what fascinated you the most and it will always be a piece of you. You may not be as interested in some of them after a couple of years pass because you have already made a choice (or more) of what you want. However, and usually, there’s a piece of you that still wants to try that something else, but it seems like there’s a limited amount of time (and money) to do so during your life.

That’s how I feel, anyway. When I was little, I wanted to be a doctor. I went through the fantasies of becoming a teacher to an oceanographer, to a performer, an animator and then a writer. During my teenage years, my goal was to become a funeral director, but I was an online news editor for my high school newspaper. Today, I am a senior in college majoring in journalism, experiencing competitive adventures in and out of newsrooms. I just wish I had enough time to explore my other interests as well. But isn’t that the beauty of writing and journalism? I can research and write about whatever the hell I want!

I love doing journalism because reporting gives me the opportunity to learn and write about things to share with the world. I enjoy showing things people don’t know or need to know about. Pretty much, that’s what I’m here for. This is going to sound conceited but every Saturday, I will post something that somewhat revolves around my interests and you will learn something from it. Let me define the following in my tagline:

Literature – I’m a book-worm and I want to practice writing reviews. Ah, I know: book reviews! I have many books from good to bad to share that I have read. If you’re thinking I’m going to review books such as Hunger Games, Twilight or Harry Potter, this section is probably not for you. I’m going to review books you might never heard of and convince you to read them. 🙂

Writing – I’m going to post some of my articles from newspapers I have written for, as well as narrative and fictional pieces. And yes, my “typical blogger” side will lash out with rants, randomness and other personal-conversational pieces here and there.

Life & Death – My book reviews and writing will revolve around these two subjects the most. How-Tos, Did-you-knows, titles, old and new news stories, my experiences (especially at the funeral home), personal thoughts and stories that have significant relevance.

And including…

Universe – I passed astronomy with an A. I’m also an employee at the local planetarium at my university. Studying and thinking about what’s out there passes through my mind consistently. I think I would say that it’s almost a hobby. So I want to share experiences I’ve had at the planetarium or cool news to know about the intergalactic world (it’ll be interesting, I promise).

I feel as if these descriptions are vague but I know it’ll get interesting as it goes. I can’t point out specific subjects that will be posted, but you’ll get what I mean (eventually).

It’s the Christmas season, and my mother is rolling small portions of cookie dough to make Reese cupcakes. I think we’re ordering pizza tonight and the flavor of marinara sauce sounds tasty. It’s time for me to exit, but I’ll will fix up this site as I go.

See you next week,

Molly