Category: Experiences

You know those kids who got excited about buying school supplies, spent an hour picking out the perfect outfit for the first day and then couldn't sleep because they were just so excited about the new school year? I was definitely one of them. (Better yet, I was that kid whose mother took her to The School Box to buy, for fun, educational books about history, geography and the like. And, of course, I've always been an avid reader.) I no longer get excited about school supplies, now that there's an additional $400 for textbooks involved, but I still get genuinely excited about school and the classes I'll be taking. That is, until it starts stressing me out. I have mini-crises before every semester begins and usually end up switching…

There are a lot of things I love about living in the college town of Columbia, Mo., but one of my favorite annual events is the True/False Film Fest. For the past 10 years, True/False has shown inspiring and thought-provoking documentary films to audience members who come from all over the country and world. Live music precedes the films, Q-and-A sessions with directors follow the films and art installations line the streets as viewers rush from one film to the next. I only saw one True/False film last year and wished I'd seen more, so this year, I did True/False right and bought a simple pass. A bunch of my friends did the same, and I had a great time going from movie to movie with them and discussing each…

A lot has been happening this week with the Dekalb County School Board, the governing body that influences about 99,000 students' education in the greater Atlanta area. The most recent highlights? The system is about to lose its accreditation, the school board filed a lawsuit in an attempt to preserve jobs, and the governor will decide Monday whether to follow the Georgia Board of Education's recommendation to suspend all school board members who were not newly elected. Just a year and a half ago, I was one of those 99,000. The more I cover education, the more I realize how my experiences in the Dekalb County School System have influenced the way I view education as a journalist. I attended one of the top high schools in Dekalb County and…

Oh hey, 2012. We just began our last date together, and if we're being honest, I'm not sure how I feel about it. In case you don't remember (I know I do), our relationship got off to a bit of a rocky start. You gave me reason to doubt many things 2011 had showed me, and I didn't like that a whole lot. I spent most of my time those first few months figuring you out. In the words of one of my favorite science teachers, I took chances and made mistakes, and it certainly got messy sometimes. (Just one example: Your April Fool's joke wasn't too funny.) The fourth and fifth months of our relationship can be best described as a ride on one of those rickety wood roller coasters…

I woke up this morning excited to do something I hadn't done in months: go to the gym. I always feel better after I go (because of these things called endorphins, I'm told. Crazy, right?), but I haven't been able to lately because of schoolwork. I'm not an outside runner — never have and probably never will be. My stint with sports also was brief — my softball and basketball careers ended at the recreational/junior varsity level (I was always more interested in the social aspect, anyway), and I dabbled in dance, gymnastics and tennis before deciding none was quite right for me. That leaves the gym, which I love more than I ever loved running the bases. I get my CNN/ESPN on while I run for half an hour…