Mandy's Blog: Archive

I get by with a little help from my friends (and...

Since I don’t work at the Chronicle anymore, I did not get a chance to write the end of college /thank you/senior reflection that some of my former co-workers got to write for the final issue. So I figured I would take advantage of my online j blog and do it here. My time at Columbia has been amazing. It’s been stressful and frustrating, but I wouldn’t change a thing....

May 12th

The end is (allegedly) in sight

Graduation is less than two weeks away. I’ve got seven more classes to go to and then I will be finished with college forever. So why does it seem like there’s not enough time in the day to get everything done? I’ve had a rough semester and I expected it with the heavy load of journalism classes I signed up for. But every time I think I’ve dug myself out of a hole, I...

May 6th

Apr 30th

Apr 24th

Everyblock

I don’t live in the city, but I spend a considerable amount of time in the South Loop, specifically in the journalism department in the 33 E. Congress building. I pulled up the neighborhood on everyblock.com and read about what was happening in the area. I have very little interest in the real estate listings or the foreclosures because I barely have enough money to commute to school every day,...

Apr 17th

Podcasting

I’m going to be honest…I don’t listen to podcasts. I’ve tried a few different ones, and it’s just not my thing. Listening to someone talk and not having anything visual to go along with it is boring to me. I don’t think I could have survived back in the day when people only had radios and no televisions. Like any good journalism student, I’ve listened to...

Apr 10th

When it rains, it pours

I truly hate that expression. It’s right up there with “everything happens for a reason” and “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” None of these are helpful things to say to a person going through a rough time. A lot of bad things have happened this semester, most of them within a three-week span. Things have gotten progressively worse to the point that I...

Apr 9th

My computer hates me

My laptop is nearly five years old, which is pretty ancient in technology standards. But for the most part, it does what I need it to do and that’s all I can ask for. Lately, it seems to be on a mission to make my life a living hell. I discovered it’s best not to turn it off on a regular basis because it does not like to be restarted. (Which takes the “portable” out of...

Mar 30th

Now what?!?!

One of my friends has a countdown to graduation on her Facebook page: 55 days. In 55 days, I will be a college graduate. I will be done with school and I will have a degree and a mountain of debt that I need to pay off. But how am I supposed to do that? My parents are already starting to pressure me about finding a job. I’ve made the mistake of making off-hand remarks about some of my...

Mar 24th

Multi-media journalism

We’ve all been told the future of journalism is multi-media. It’s not enough to write a fantastic story anymore. Now, journalists need to have podcasts or video footage or a great audio clip to go with the story to make it more interesting to readers and more appealing to people who want to view the story on the internet. On the surface, multi-media is great. Video and audio clips...

Mar 19th

No rhyme or reason

I never had any interest in writing poetry. I always thought it was kind of lame and I really never understood why some people got so into it. Instead, I like to use random song lyrics to express what’s going on in my mind. Here are some of my current favorites: “So give me something to believe Cause I am living just to breathe And I need something more To keep on breathing for So...

Mar 18th

Watch

This show makes me happy.

Mar 13th

Look on the bright side

I’ve never been one of those glass-half-full people. I don’t really think of myself as a pessimist, per se, but a realist. But lately, I have been really down and anxious and getting to the point where it’s hard to get out of bed. It’s depressing to be around me…and I am me, so I can only imagine what my friends and family are thinking. So on the advice of one of my...

Mar 13th

Spring tease

60 degrees two days in a row? In March? In Chicago? Awesome. It’s really funny how the weather can affetct someone’s mood. Normally, Thursdays kind of suck as a general rule, but not this week. Sunshine, warm temperatures and no icy wind and I was a happy girl. I’ve lived here all my life, so I know the gorgeous weather won’t last, but I will take what I can get.

Mar 6th

Social web

My experience on the social web is pretty much Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is a huge waste of time, but I like it because I am really good at wasting time. It’s fun to read my friends’ status updates and see what’s going on with people I don’t get to talk to that often. I started using Twitter last semester in my Elections class. We would “Twitter” back and...

Mar 6th

February Rain

I feel like I should start off by saying I am so glad it is raining and not snowing. Logically, I know the weather could be a lot worse. With that said… Today’s rain was ridiculous. It was like being in a hurricane. The streets flooded almost instantly and I had to trudge through knee-deep water to get to my car. I was completely soaked and freezing and it really didn’t do much...

Feb 27th

Silent Partner

Working as a group is always challenging. Meshing people and ideas together and trying to get everyone on the same page is often a difficult task. But there are times when it is down right impossible. I took Reporting and Writing II over the summer and we had a small class - only 11 people - so we did a lot of work in partners. I always worked with the same girl and we became a really good team....

Feb 26th

Internet love

I am addicted to the Internet. The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I do before I go to sleep is log onto the Internet. I check my email, Facebook, Twitter, news sites, entertainment sites and anything else that seems the least bit interesting. I also do this while I’m watching TV, attempting to do homework and now that I have a Blackberry - when I’m...

Feb 19th

Feb 18th

I'll be there for you...will you be there for me?

Friendship is really important to me. I try really hard to be a good friend and always be there for my friends when they need me…in good times and bad. There are a handful of people in this world I would drop everything for and do anything for and I think they all know that. But there are times when I wonder if they would do the same for me.

Feb 13th

Miserable? Not so much, thanks

Forbes magazine has ranked Chicago the third most miserable city in the country. Their reasoning? High taxes, political corruption, lousy weather, long commutes… Give me a break. Chicago is awesome. Sure, the weather is lousy in the winter. It’s WINTER. No one likes endless days of clouds and snow and slush, but we’re used to it because we live in Chicago and we love it here....

Feb 11th

Drive me crazy

I have a love/hate relationship with driving. I went through a long period where I hardly drove at all. My car was acting up and I was afraid to drive very far because I didn’t want to get stranded. Then I had to have surgery, so I couldn’t drive for nearly nine weeks. After that, I started going to school in the city and I had to get a ride to and from the train station every day. I...

Feb 6th

The future of journalism

A lot has been said lately about the future of journalism and whether or not there is a future for journalism. News organizations are cutting jobs and people have been saying for years that the newspaper is dead. It’s a little depressing sometimes to tell someone I’m a journalism student and see the look of pity cross their face. I admit there are days when I wonder if I will ever be...

Feb 5th