Whooping Llama

I’m beginning something here. Pretty soon, I’m going to start blogging about running a college paper (hence the name switch from “Whooping Llama”) but I figured I should get all of you up to date first. This is part one.

I’ve finished my seventh issue of the University of Charleston Eagle…and I must say it looks pretty good. I’m really not trying to blow my own horn, but we’ve been doing some good stuff this semester. We’ve turned the paper around, made it much more “newsy,” and have had pretty good success. Our issue-before-last, featuring President-elect Barack Obama(!) smack-dab in the center of the front page, went like hot-cakes. People are responding to the new format…I think they’re excited they have a real, honest-to-God campus newspaper.

Vanessa (my co-editor) and I are planning a really big story for next semester. It’s something that’s been brewing in the back of my mind since sophmore year–something I’ve always wished someone would write, and now I’m going to. You can bet it’ll be on here as soon as it rolls off the presses.

I’m having a lot of fun running this newpaper. A couple years ago, I started working on and co-anchoring the campus television show, UC on the Move (some videos from it are posted on this blog). It was a brand-new project for the university and I really enjoyed the whole TV news thing.

The videography, the editing, the script writing, the thrill of seeing your work on television…it was all really fun for a while. But UC on the Move, didn’t have a budget or much of a staff to speak of. Most of the workload was shouldered by me, my co-anchor, and our communications professor (both gone now–one works for the university, the other’s in Deleware). Our other reporters and videographers were inept at best. Some just needed more experience. Some just needed to change majors.

We were constantly banging our heads against the wall trying to get these “newbies” whipped into shape (when we only had a couple months’ experience ourselves). We fretted over upsetting the administration. We fretted over constant equipment screw-ups and delayed deadlines. Fun was soon replaced by stress, and I burned out. Big time.

I hated working on that TV show. I hated all those headaches, all those frustrations. I just froze. I stopped working, left all kinds of loose ends untied. I left an entire episode half-made. My comrades were mad at me, and I can understand why.  I dropped the ball on them, something I have never done in my entire life. If I tell you I’m going to do something, I’m probably going to do it (God willin’ and the creek don’t rise). I’m ashamed of the way I acted.

During a particularly dark period I even (seriously) considered changing my major to English and then heading off to grad school for a Master’s in education. My better senses and lack of enthusiasm for complex literary theory convinced me otherwise.

Anyway, I took a semester off from any kind of school-related activities besides writing book, movie, and music review for The Eagle. When the outgoing editor Leah Bowes needed someone to fill her shoes I eagerly raised my hand, taking my good friend Vanessa with me as copy editor. I had kinda wanted to edit the paper since I was a freshman…you could call it a dream come true, if it was one of those dreams where you fall toward the water and then jerk yourself awake within two seconds.

Here’s a story I recently had published in the Coal Valley News, the Boone County weekly I’m interning at this summer. Click on the thumbnails below for a larger view.

On Thursday May 22^nd, the eighty-nine members of the Sherman High School class of 2008 completed their high school educations at Sherman’s eighty-first commencement ceremony.

WVU Student Body President Jason Parsons spoke to the graduating seniors, advising them to pursue their dreams no matter what anyone might say. Parsons, a Boone County native and 2005 Sherman graduate, said students should be proud of their Boone County heritage, adding “Route 3 can take you anywhere you want to go.”

Accompanied by guitarist Justin Daggs, Cody Elswick and Miranda Boggs performed the Ryan Cabrera song “I Will Remember You” for their fellow graduates. Senior Michael Workman also performed, playing and singing an original composition he dubbed “Graduated Me.”

Honor students Emily Carden and India Stone, Salutatorian Brittany Stumbo, and Valedictorian Caraline Griffith then took their turns at the podium, all speaking of new paths and new adventures. They thanked their teachers, parents, and friends and reflected on their class’s accomplishments and the memories made.

In her speech, Stumbo admitted that members of the class may never cross paths again, but assured them “whatever path we choose, we’ll take our memories with us.”

Griffith evoked the classic Walt Disney character Jiminy Cricket in her final advice to the soon-to-be-former classmates. Just as Jiminy told Pinocchio, the Valedictorian urged her class to “let your conscience be your guide.”

One of the seniors, Brazilian exchange student Lais Minussi, received a very special honor at last Thursday’s ceremony. Principal Allen Halley presented Minussi with the Distinguished Mountaineer Award, sent and signed by Governor Joe Manchin.

The award commended her for “her expression of good will and respect to the people of the Mountain State.” Minussi said she felt like a “fish out of water” upon arriving in West Virginia earlier this year, but thanked Sherman students and staff for welcoming her into their family.

Halley then offered his last words as principal to the class of 2008: “Today your high school journey will end, and you must choose a path…and we’ve heard a lot about that tonight. No matter what path you take, remember that your journey began here at Sherman Senior High School,” Halley said.

Governor’s Cup weekend was a busy one here at UC, but students weren’t too busy to give their time to a good cause…and have some fun while they were at it.

On Friday evening, eighty-six students from several campus organizations constructed a box village on the riverbank behind Riggleman Hall. In an Extreme Home Makeover-like fury, boxes were painted, taped together, and covered in plastic to keep out the elements. Then, with pillows, blankets, and laptops in hand, the students in.

The cardboard community would be their home-away-from-dorm for the next 24 hours.

This makeshift camping expedition was all a part of UC’s first-ever Box-a-thon, held to raise money for Scottie’s Place (a camp for homeless children). Organized by seniors Vida Cooper and Leah Bowes, the fundraiser raked in approximately $1,700 for the charity.

Scottie’s Place was named for a homeless boy founder Jo-El Wadsworth met in a national forest, where the boy was living with his father. It was her first close encounter with America’s homeless, one that led her to set up a summer camp for children like Scottie in rural West Virginia.

“It’s up on a mountain, away from society, away from all of their problems. They have full meals, places to sleep and plenty to do—plenty of great friends and help from caring adults,” says Cooper. “It’s an awesome environment and a safe-haven for these kids.”

Public Policy major Rachel McMillion said her decision to rough it on the riverbank was an easy one: “I heard about it when Vida was announcing it and I just thought it was a really great cause, and a fun thing. This is a great way to show the community what people have to go through.”

Cooper says she hopes this fundraiser will become an annual Governor’s Cup event, and with 1.4 million homeless children in America today, charities like Scottie’s place will always need the help.

Here’s a story I recently had published in the Coal Valley News, the Boone County weekly I’m interning at this summer.

It’s a story as old as rock and roll. A bunch of friends get together, plug up some guitar amps and start messing around. Before too long, a band is born.

That’s exactly the way it worked out for members of When All Hope Fades, a local Christian metalcore band. Guitarist Shane Holstein and drummer Tyler Bunting met through their mutual friend Chris Adkins after Adkins transferred from Scott High (where Tyler goes) to Lincoln County High (which Shane attends).

According to the band’s MySpace page, Adkins, Holstein, and Bassist Nolan Graley were all a part of another Christian metal group called “The Darkest Vision.” Bunting joined for a while, later leaving to start another band called “Amidst the Throne.”

Both bands eventually broke up, leading to the formation of When All Hope Fades. Though the musicians had known and played with each other for about two years, this current musical incarnation is only about two months old.

Recently joining the fray is 18-year-old vocalist Justin Kimbler, a fresh Scott High graduate. The band had been searching for a front man for some time, and decided on Kimbler the night before Bunting and Holstein’s interview with the Coal Valley News.

Watching the video of his audition on MySpace, it’s easy to see why the guys of When All Hope Fades took to Kimbler. His guttural screams are almost superhuman. The longer one listens, the more one wonders how his vocal chords don’t spontaneously combust.

Bunting is a wonder in his own right. The meek 16-year-old would draw comparisons to Bleeker from the hit movie Juno before he would John Bonham or Keith Moon, but behind a drum set he produces heavy, spitfire rhythms that could fit anywhere in the rock spectrum.

When All Hope Fades will play their first gig as a band on July 1^st at a private party. The guys also hope to make their way into the recording studio sometime soon. They insist that visions of the big time aren’t occupying their minds at the moment, however. “That comes later. Right now we’re just having fun,” says Bunting.

You can contact members of When All Hope Fades by visiting their MySpace page, www.myspace.com/whenallhopefades304.

Here’s a story I recently had published in the Coal Valley News, the Boone County weekly I’m interning at this summer.

At its May 13^th meeting, the Danville Town Council unanimously voted to give the town’s five maintenance workers a $1/hour raise, effective immediately, to offset rising fuel costs.

Mayor Mark McClure suggested the raise, saying the workers “do a good job for us and we need to help them out.”

Building manager Bill Cook echoes McClure, especially in regards to the town’s two full-time maintenance workers, David and Terry Clark. “They’re honest and the community loves them,” Cook said of the brothers. “They have a work ethic that anybody would be proud of. I couldn’t ask for two finer people.

The town of Danville will also be hiring two part-time employees this summer to supplement its existing workforce. The additional workers will help cut weeds, mow grass, repair sidewalks and roads, and perform what Cook calls “general maintenance” for the town.