Creative Nonfiction

The last outside event that I went to was creative nonfiction readings by different students in the Patterson building. The one that stood out the most to me was this guy who read about his experience of living in a small town that was controlled by a strip club. The way he told the story was really funny and he grabbed my attention from the very beginning. He talked about how everyone in the town would end up at the strip club every night and how it was run by a shady old man. I felt with every detail that he listed i was able to visualize the setting and how all the characters were connecting with each other. I have always lived in big cities and the time that I did stay in a smaller city it was probably still bigger than his hometown. All in all his story stood out to me the most because it had a feeling of being fiction, even though it was what he experienced in his life growing up.

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Otherlands Cafe

I chose to go to the Otherland's Cafe for one of my outside events. They were having graduate students read some of their works. There were two people that were reading that night, Candace Baxter and Michael Adams. I'm not really sure what to say about Candace Baxter and her story, I would like to be nice about it but that seems very unlikely. She completely lost the entire audience while she was reading, because her story kept shifting from one spot to the next. The story just did not make any sense and I realize that I am not a writer or anything. I just feel that if I were to tell a story, I would make sure that the audience could keep up. The next person to read was Michael Adams and his assortment of poems. Honestly, anything would have sounded good after hearing Baxter talk for thirty minutes. I thought it was good that he was able to talk about his hardships like breaking up with friend and wanting to get her back. Adams was able to incorporate many different elements into each one of his poems, which made everyone of them exciting to listen to.

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Leadership

Earlier in the semester my coach pulled me aside and said that he wanted me to attend this leadership workshop. Apparently each coach was supposed to choose a few players from each team who they felt had good leadership qualities. However, I was not supposed to talk about this amongst the team unless it was with those who were also attending the event. My teammates and I went to the Fogelman building where we were treated to a very fancy dinner and dessert before listening to the speaker talk. She started off by telling a story about Josh Pastner who is currently the head coach for our basketball team. When he was a freshman on his basketball team in Arizona, he decided that the system was not correct and it needed to be changed if they wanted to win a national title. The problem is that no one wanted to listen to a rookie who was still wet behind his ears. Pastner kept fighting this opposition and finally reached his peers and sure enough they won a national title that year. I thought the story was really good, and showed that it does not matter if you are a transfer or a new student you can find a way to reach out to your team. Now i think the speaker did a good job, and those who really paid attention will benefit from it. However, despite have great slides and a great story, there are just some individuals who will not go out of their way for others and its sad. I wanted to be different so I came back from this workshop wanting to incorporate new techniques of trying to bring my team closer and hold everyone more accountable including myself. I know I am not on the same level as Josh Pastner but anything is worth a try.

Student Athlete Assembly

For one of my outside events I was somewhat forced to attend a seminar from a speaker named Felicia Hall. The reason that I say that I was forced to attend is because the athletic department sent an e-mail out to all the coaches stating that it was mandatory for players. Normally, I would not be opposed to hearing a success story from a person who knows what it is like to juggle being an athlete and a student. However, I was not a big fan of Ms. Hall's story, maybe it was because I did a million errands that day and the last thing I would have like to do was sit in an auditorium for two hours. I had to be fair though and I listened to the points that she was trying to make. Hall made comments that you have to fight in what you believe in and with superior determination. Also, that you have to be prepared for life once you are off the field or court. I thought she made valid points, but did not think it was an accurate approach for all of her audience. Maybe I just view the world more realistically and no that it is going to take more than just self determination to get the job of good quality. I think Felicia Hall forgot to really reinforce the education concept, because everyone out there in the "Real World" is determined and just because it worked for her does not necessarily mean it will work for everyone else. Now I do understand that she was simply trying to encourage those athletes who never took a moment to reflect on their education and the benefits they can receive from having a college degree. The world is tough sometimes and the paths that we take are not easy strolls. I just wished I could have been touched by her words more.

Crap Cell Phones

I am not of those people that always complains about his cell phone. However, in this last week or so there has been too much complaining from me. I have one of those smart phones and advertisers said it was going to be hassle free. Well apparently they lied to me and all those others with my phone. It has come to the stage where I have just given up on the phone all together and I am not certain of our future together. It was a great run we had together but I believe it time for me to move on and get a less frustrating phone.

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St. Jude Marathon

This past weekend, I went downtown to cheer on all the runners of the St. Jude marathon. Most of my friends or people I knew were participating in either the full or half marathon. It is for a really cause and to see all those runners so proud of themselves when they finish the race is a great sight to see. Some of my teammates went and surprised our coach who had no idea we were coming. He was so excited to see us, I have never seen him that happy and that made all of us feel great for the rest of the day. Next year I hope I can also help St. Jude Hospital by also running the half marathon.

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Exams

We are near the end of the semester and then exam week will be upon us. This is when everyone at the school spends every waking moment at the library trying to cram last minute. I have to admit that I am also one of these crammers, but not by choice. I do not mind have late night study sessions considering I haven't gone to bed before 3 am in 7 nights. At this point my body would think twice before letting me fall asleep before midnight. I am going to be really excited when I get through this next week.

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