This Semester (Blog for May 8th)

I took a journalism class with professor broderick last semester. And like that class I really enjoyed this one. It was kind of confusing at time because we didn't have a set schedule on what we were supposed to do each week. My other online classes gave us specific assignments to do each week, and I think that is very important with an online class. It's probably more important to people who don't teach themselves very easily and online classes are slightly harder for them. That is the main thing that I had trouble with in this class. I liked how we had the freedom to basically blog about what we wanted to do. And I also liked how we were introduced to Blogger.com. I actually used blogger.com for my web design class to. I had to teach the other students about a useful website we discovered and I picked that one. The other thing that I had a tough time with was the lack of professor interaction. But on professor broderick behalf he did have computer problems, so I understand that. I also liked how we got to do that free small learning class that we had to do at the beginning of the semester. All in all I liked the class I will definately be taking other classes that professor broderick teaches. Whether it is online or on campus professor broderick is a good teacher and knows a lot journalism.

Tis the Season!!!-april 24th blog

I love the smell of fresh air and garage sale signs! Once the warm weather hits, it is time for the spring cleaning. Which means it is time for one person's junk to become another person's treasure. I drive through different towns on my way to work I see loads of signs, which are all pointing to very different sales. I absolutely love garage saling in the summer (I got that gene from my mother). Our weekends are filled with hours and hours of going around looking for the small neon signs (that are pointing us the wrong way half the time) and finding great deals.

I Hope it Lasts--Blog for April 10th

Yesterday, I was wondering why we have been having such bad luck with weather. Sunny and 45 degrees one day and 32 degrees and snowing the next day! It just seemed crazy to me. Then the answer popped into my mind...Somehow, the people on this planet (or mainly the Minnesotans) made Mother Nature VERY angry, so she punished us by giving us the crappiest weather I've ever seen in my 19 years of living. The main question is, what the heck did we do to make her that mad? I still don't have, even the slightest, answer to this question. If you have any ideas, please let me know. Because I want to fix whatever it is we did, so we can keep Ms. Mother Nature extremely happy from this day forward!

Growing community (blog for march 27th)

When I went to my mailbox this weekend I saw the newspaper in it too. As soon as I pulled it out of the mailbox, an interesting story caught my attention. The title of it was "City okays $450,000 for KleinBank project." It immediately interested me because I bank at KleinBank, I know just about every person at the Big Lake Klein, and it is just great bank. So I decided to sit down right then and there, once I got back into the house of course, and read the article. The main point of the article was saying that the Big Lake KleinBank is taking their small building that is next to the local Dairy Queen, and moving it to a new location. The place they are moving it to is still occupied by our old American Legion, but it is a very beautiful piece of land and very well-known. It is right on the corner of two of our major roads, which are highway 10 and county road 43. They just passed the vote for the construction of the new Klein and it is said to be done in about a year or two. After I read the article I felt so excited and happy for the people that are going to be involved in the construction of the new bank and for it's employees. They have been in that small building next to DQ for way to long, and they deserve to get a bigger and more beautiful place to work. The article also stated that by moving the bank to it's new location and making the building more extravagent will show how much Big Lake is growing and excelling.

City Hall.. It's a "wonderful" place!

Last year was my senior year of high school, and for our government class one of the projects we had to do was go to City Hall and sit-in on one of their meetings. When I first thought about it I thought it could be a fun thing to do. But once I got there I knew my thoughts were all wrong. Big Lake's City Hall is located right smack-dag in the middle of town and everyone knows where it is. Even my ten-year-old sister knows where it is. You wouldn't know that by how many people were at the meeting that night. Including the "elected officials" there was about 15 people, which was mainly the counsel and my classmates. Besides the lack of people, the "comfort" meter was down too. As soon as you walk in you feel the cold temperature. It was the middle of winter and there thermostat was probably set at 50 degrees, if that! The room itself wasn't much to cheer about either. The paint was chipping and peeling off, carpet stained in every place I looked, the chair seats had rips and tears, and there was a very disturbing odor that just wouldn't go away. So let's just say the hour I had to spend in that place wasn't my best moments. And to be completely honest I don't really remember the issues they talked about, I think I was too busy trying to stay warm while plugging my nose at the same time, but I'm sure they were important.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The people of Big Lake don't really care about their community or what goes on in it. That was proven at that meeting when only a hand-full of people showed up to vote and discuss projects, events, and policies that could change the way we live today and the way we could live tomorrow.

Blog #2-- Covering Communities

Today was the first day I have read my local newspaper in a long time. When I say a long time, I mean a LOOOONG time. While I was looking through the paper there was one story that jumped out at me. It is called "Is there any interest in our school?", it was written by Gary W. Meyer, and it is in Big Lake's newspaper called "The Tribune". It caught my attention because I went to Big lake high school and I thought the article would be dealing with the high school. After I started reading it though I realized it was dealing with this past local election and the lack of persons who wanted to be elected onto the school board elections. Now, I knew that the kids who had to go to the Big Lake schools hated it, but I didn't know that the people living in Big Lake didn't even want to deal with the schools :)

"Everybody and their uncle registered as a candidate for the two council positions. Hardly anybody registered for the three school board positions. Nine persons signed up for the council jobs. Three signed up for the three school jobs," reported by Gary. It then went on saying that the school jobs should be more important to people. "They get to over-see a 32 million dollar budget, hundreds of employees, and programs that affect 4,000 local kids and their families." That to me sounds much better than the duties of the elected officials of city jobs. "The city jobs as important as they are, often amount to where neighbors' fences go, recycling issues, and regulating whereabouts of manhole covers in the streets."

This article just opened my eyes to the people in my community. Some people may be intimidated and scared with the duties of a school board member, but just think of how rewarding it would be to help the future of the schools in this small, but growing, community. If I had to choose between helping my future kids and grandkids and making sure I know where the manholes are on the streets, the choice is obvious. After reading this article, it has made me sort of think that maybe one day I would like to run for a school board position.

--Jamie Groth--

The world has come to a blog....

If you are truly feeling the emotion, time, and power put into a piece of writing then I would say you are reading a blog. "What makes a blog, a blog?" A blog is basically a journal for the people of today's age. A person's blog shows their audience what they are feeling on a certain day, their opinions on current events, or many other things.
My favorite thing about blogging is being able to voice my opinion and point of view on different situations. It also gives me a chance to express my feelings and get advice too.
The most challenging thing about blogging for me would probably have to be the frequency. Most blogs should have a new post everyday or even more than once a day. But if you really want to write about something you have strong feelings for, you should do it as often as you feel needed. Whether it is once a day, once a week, or 4 times a day. :)