Journey to the Dark Side.

Over the years, we all have those moments when we feel we've done something bad. I don't mean in a dirty, immediately feel like confession kind of moment, but something you know has now altered either your day-to-day life or something you continue to have lingering sinking feeling.

I had one of those kinds of moments last week. I finally caved on something that I had been adamantly against for years. It went against my better judgment, it blatantly defied some basic things I hold as gospel. I...joined Twitter, and I love it.


I never would have thought that dispersing little 140 character messages into the world for a combination of complete strangers and some friends to read would be a worthwhile or satisfying endeavor. I can muse about my frustration with not being able to find a good job opportunity, a quick review of the my latest film, or even to just find solidarity about whatever feeling I may be having.

Comparatively to Facebook, where only my friends can really give commentary to the things that I put out there into the world, and frankly not all of them are things that my friends find interesting or that are even worth comment. But on Twitter, when I "tweet" (Believe me, I just cringed writing that word), there's a host of people who can respond, react and give commentary right back.

Secondly, I've actually found it can be a good way to promote myself and my writing. Let's say I just saw "True Grit" and I want to make sure I get my opinion out there in the universe as to make sure my opinion is the often read one amongst my now growing list of 75 followers. But then instead of merely leaving it at the 140 characters, I come home and write a fuller, more expansive review and put the blog link onto my feed so people can read the nuance and texture lost in a tweet.

I never thought I'd say this, but I am twitter-holic.

The Other Side of Spring Break

When my spring break begins in a week or two, I know many of my friends are going to be on their way to some of most envious places for any Witt student whose been hanging around the sheets of ice, snow, and weather long enough. Some of them are headed to Daytona Beach, FL, some are headed to sunny Los Angeles the land of Hollywood and the best surf on the main land, and some are headed to the calm and tranquil Virginia Beach for some R&R and the occasional dip in the Atlantic.

But for many, Spring Break isn't the same kind of free-for-all, fun in the sun experience it is for many. For many like me, I'll be packing up my month's worth of laundry and headed back to the enviable traveler's destination of South Bend, IN. For the last few years, the picture above (taken about 50 yards from my buddy's apartment) is what I've been used to. I have to be careful driving, bundled up in all my layers, and trying to avoid the icy patches on the sidewalks.

It's just as well too. Where in other years, I've didn't really have the excuses not to go to a warm place to really get down, I have too many to pick from this year. The real world is steamrolling down the tracks right at me, and I have to build a barrier before it creams me. Applications, portfolios, and the upcoming graduation are coming and barricaded in my house might be the only time it may get done. Weirdly though, many of my friends have already started to plan to bring a book along because they know they have something to work on, or they're going to look at the potential job opportunities in a particular city. The working break has arrived.

The Water Cooler's gone viral

I'm an avid fan of the award show. Yes, in many people's eyes they are overly-long, self gradulating, tedious waste of three hours. But I find them endlessly watchable and always fascinating.

So during last week's Grammy Awards, the celebration of the best in music, I found myself doing more than my usual watching and dvr-ing. I also found myself doing a whole new kind of interaction. I found myself constantly updating my facebook to address my opinions on different performances, clothing choices, and choices awarded.

I was in a mini-facebook war over the opening number featuring some of music's biggest voices as they tried to out-diva each other in a Aretha Franklin tribute. She ruined that song, she shouldn't have sung, etc.

Then as Lady Gaga emerged from her egg, I was commenting on the song versus her attire.

Then Eminem didn't win album of the Year, and there was surely a spike in conversation.

For the last few years, programmers, network executives, and television producers have been increasingly worried and aware that young people (18-34 is the demograhic) are not watching these kinds of large scale event television moments. But I would argue just the opposite. Special event TV has hit a high in terms of viewers over the last few years, and that's entirely because of this current Internet generation.

Instead of merely sitting and watching a show and having something to talk about in the halls or at the water cooler the next day, we talk about it as its happening. That's the kind of thing my mother would argue isn't really possible because she doesn't think multitasking like that is possible, but I think it's become a generational thing.

We've become so inundated with images, sounds, that we've learned to handle so many of them at once. We can text and listen to a conversation, do homework with the TV on in the background, and tweet and watch TV. Network programmers, don't fret, we're still watching your shows, we're just dealing with in a different kind of way.

Senior Athletes and how I feel like I'm turning into Barbra Walters

The latest story I'm working on for the bi-weekly stories is something that arrived very organically. I remembered of the many conversations my colleague Brian Alspaugh and I had on our mighty, long walk up to Wrigleyville on our first day in Chicago for the summer journalism symposium.

We were talking about what he was going to do when his year was over, when football was over, what do after graduation, how will you deal with being done etc.

It is these kind of conversations that led me to really think how special, exciting, and interesting the experience of being a college athlete and especially the ones at Wittenberg. I emailed 20+ senior athletes who are now finished with their seasons so I can ask about what makes them tick, how's it feel to be done, and what are the things they enjoy doing now that they're finished etc.

I've already conducted three interviews and have three more planned for today, and four this weekend. I've been recording them all on my FlipCam, more for the sound than the actual images. The responses have been so well versed, so beautifully articulated in a shocking and wonderful way. For some of these people, it's literally only been days since their career end; I love that they've been able to be so open and frank.

I'm definitely opening with an anecdotal lead and I have more than a few to pick from.

Any questions you think I should ask?

My Semester Story

For my semester-long story, I'm exploring the fact that there is serious lack of handicap accessibility on campus.
For years I've looked at this beautiful campus with the rolling hills, historical buildings, and attitude of trying to market itself as the perfect school for so many different kinds of students, that it's glaringly obvious that's not really true.

How is someone supposed to wheel up the hill, live in any hall other than New Hall, or even take classes in many of campus's academic buildings.

I'm looking into the actual specifics of where the laws the are supposed to be enacted throughout here at Wittenberg and who is in charge of enforcing them.

I'm also going to talk to John Paulsen the head of physical plant and see what can be done feasibly and realistically.

I'm also talking to Dave Wishart, a economics professor who is himself handicap. I want to know about his experience. Does he teach in Synod because it's one of the only accessible places?

I'm also going to talk to Admissions. Discuss with them the different counselors and see if they've seen problem with either students or parents who are handicapped. Do they think the different aspects of campus are preventing a whole new enclave of potential students by not having ramps or elevators.

As Cold As Ice

Welcome to Wittenberg! Where the ice and snow are several inches deep and there isn't a lick of salt in large supply.

The university went through a somewhat precarious and dangerous situation last week when what's been dubbed "the national winter storm" hit the friendly confines of our campus like 2x4 to the face.

With the several inches of ice, impassible sidewalks, continuing snow and a lack of salt available to combat the problem, the administration did exactly what they knew they had to do. They canceled school, and not just for one day, not two, but three whole days.

Yes, I know and understand that canceling classes and closing the university is not a decision to be made lightly, and I can't imagine being the individuals in charge of that decision, but how weird did it feel that the higher ups actually were paying attention to what was going on on campus?

I can guarantee there was a professor or two who would have rathered their students trudged, slipped, and fell instead of changing his or her precious syllabus, but they realized there was a problem and instead of just assuming we as the student body would just have to deal, they did the right thing, and canceled class.

This is a pretty particular situation though. According to Marsha Pace, director of the Student Center's Mail Room and Service Center this is certainly a new trend.

"I've worked here for over thirty years. We've never been closed two days in a row, let alone three," said Pace.

Thankfully with some salt down and the groundskeepers working their butts off to make sure we don't all break an ankle, school is back and running again.

Now about all that work missed while we were off...

Super Bowl XLV- An exercise in Over-the-Top Entertainment

The Green Bay Packers are bringing the Lombardi trophy back to the snow-covered fields of Wisconsin (their 4th win and first win since the departure of biggest known fan of his cellphone camera, Brett Favre).

But coming into Super Bowl XLV, with my hometown Indianapolis Colts already out and my devotion to other springtime sporting events still to come (March Madness), I decided to focus this year on every aspect of the game that wasn't the game.

The Fox News Corporation decided that during the pre-game festivities (that started at noon by the way), they should play host to a weird and quietly momentous little summit of sorts. President Obama and king of spin Bill O'Reilly sat down for an otherwise pretty dull interview. The interview did have a slight uptick though, when at one point at one point that O'Reilly asked quite directly, "Does it bother you that so many people hate you?"

Then there was the actual pre-game events including Christina Aguilera flubbing the lyrics to the National Anthem. In true fashion the Twitter world went crazy with her misspoken lyrics, and it didn't take long for Aguilera to release a statement hoping the world didn't view her as unpatriotic.



The commercials were...well actually somewhat boring. So many of them had this elaborate set-up and unfortunately the money shot was not really worth it. Weirdly my favorite ones involved physical site gags like this one early in the telecast.



Unfortunately, I would have preferred that Doritos stuck to their guns and tried to air this spot because of its sheer audacity. They shelved it weeks before, for obvious reasons, and well went with some other stuff instead.



The much-publicized halftime extravaganza featuring every soccer mom's favorite rap stars the Black Eyed Peas was...middling at best. Propelled by the power and ubiquity of their party jams including "I Got a Feeling," "Boom Boom Pow," and "Let's Get It Started," the Peas launched into a seemingly endless set featuring LCD light shows, dancers by the truckload, and extra-special guests including former Guns 'N Roses guitarist Slash and R&B superstar Usher who did his best "I'm trying to be Michael Jackson" impression. The multiple sound glitches and just general left me thinking I'll take some aging rock god any day of the week. Were Bon Jovi unavailable? I included it below.



Finally the post-Super Bowl TV spot went to the biggest love-it-or-hate-it show in recent memory. I think it's because it's a musical, so many people don't like musicals. The show's producers certainly added some bang for their buck including scantily clad cheerleaders, a football game of their own, and a highly-publicized performance of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" that lived up to the hype. I don't know if the show won any new fans but it certainly held its ground.



The Super Bowl for years has tried to be the ultimate entertainment event for all generations, races, genders, and once again for Super Bowl XLV they tried with mixed results to do just that.