Shark meeting

The giant killer shark responsible for the recent deaths among the island of Amity has been caught and killed by local fishermen.

The most brutal and dangerous of all sharks, the nurse shark, was identified as the perpetrator according to Police Chief Brody.

After the death of two children, Christie Watson, 17, and Alex Kintner, 10, a shark attack has been confirmed as the cause of death according to an official in the chief police's office.

Residents of Amity Island are happy to change their anger into excitement with the killing of this shark. First a mauling, then a bloody disappearance, now they got their revenge.

There was a 3,000 dollar reward out for the killing of this shark from the Kintner family. It have fired up many citizens ready for blood. The fishermen who caught the fish will receive the reward.

“You all know what I do,” Amity fisherman, Ben Quint said. “We gotta do it quick. It’s not gonna be easy. It’s gonna take not $3,000 but $10,000 for me by myself. And I mean the head, the tail, the whole damn thing.”

The plan is to put on extra summer deputy’s as soon as possible, have working shark spotters, and to many resident’s dismay, a closing of the beaches on July forth. These many arguable topics were pointed out last night at the special meeting held by the Mayor Larry Vaughn, Police Chief Martin Brody, and the Amity Board of Selectmen. 

"Of course the beaches throughout our beautiful island will reopen immediately," Chief Brody said. "Islanders and guests alike should not be alarmed by the presence of shark spotters from the Coast Guard, the Marine Patrol, the Massachusetts State Police, the U.S. Navy, Homeland Security, the FBI, and numerous local municipal and county police agencies in the waters off our beaches. They are simply a safety precaution that will put our visitors at ease."

Future in journalism

In this major, every one wants to make it. Big or small the goal is to be published. Talking about average lives in journalism was definitely scary. Low pay, lots of climbing up the totem pole, and a whole lot of bills stacking up at home. It's scary, but manageable. I always used to say to my dad, "I don't want to live a life of money, I just want to be happy," and his reply was always, "wait until you don't have any, then come tell me that." He always supports it and wants my happiness as much as the next dad, but what I've come to realize is he wanted to make the struggle and little less hard and in return, I became an English major. English is a passion, so if I can have a job in it, I"ll gladly prove my dad wrong. Whether it takes 3 jobs to keep up with the bills, and lots of shitty living spaces, I don't care. It hasn't changed since I was 5-years-old. I wanted to be happy, not greedy. I wanted to do what I love and not settle. Now if I end up in journalism, or teaching English, or even a famous novelist (yeah right haha,) I'll be happy because I'm doing what I love.

Deadlines

If there is anything I learned this semester, it is the importance of deadlines. They keep you on a schedule and force you to stay on track. Unless you miss all of them, then you make the realization of their importance the hard way. They keep coming up, and if you miss one it doesn't just disappear. The work just stacks and stacks until you have no choice but to do them all at once (which we all know is never going to be good). Whether it be this class with constant stories and blogs that have to be done, or a physics class that you wait until the last minute to write up a lab report on something you did weeks ago, it's never fun. I am a victim of learning the hard way. Although I don't regret it, I wish I had caught on a little sooner. Don't get me wrong, I hate that I did it. It did teach me to handle time management and my priorities better though. Through out the semester I always got the stories in, but I never quite got my stories to the level I wanted them to be at. Plus, I got way to caught up in what to write about that I stopped worrying about the several other important factors to writing and news reporting. Whether it be a day late, or a week late, it comes back to bite you in the butt when it comes to the next story, the next deadline and especially the end of the semester and the ones to come.

Traffic and temporary insanity

Traffic. Oh gosh. You hear stories about the nightmares of holiday traffic but until you’ve done it, you have no clue. On my way home today, I was taking my time to pack and get ready thinking that no matter when I leave there will be a bit of traffic no matter where I go. A LITTLE. This is where the nightmare got me. It got me in New York City, then in Connecticut every time there was a highway merge (which there were a lot of), then in Massachusetts by every city you can imagine. The first hour of traffic I sat and thought, “this isn’t too bad. I don’t know what everyone hates it so much.” Then by the time I got to the middle of Connecticut, that should have taken me 2 hours, I had been stopped by another traffic jam in my forth hour of being in the car and ready to cry. Traffic makes the 6-hour trip from New York to Durham more than inconvenient. After 8 and half hours in the car, I pulled up to the Gables and just sat, and waited. I sat because there was no more traffic. No more 2 MPH driving for an hour at a time. No more watching the GPS as it went up in time rather than down as you hit each and every traffic trouble. Most importantly, no more insane thoughts in my head that had been drawn up and fueled since the start of my lonely, long drive I had ahead of me. Let’s just say, I’m done with driving for a while. 

FOMO

 As my sister went on about her depressing day at work as she cried every 5 minutes due to her case of “FOMO” the family stopped her. The acronym “FOMO,” which I soon learned meant “Fear of missing out” after we asked her what the hell she was talking about. She had been stuck in a 12-hour day at the hospital she works at on Thanksgiving cause it was the holiday she chose, so that she didn’t miss the big ones. As she went into work little did she know she would miss our brother making a surprise visit home from the NAVY but also him proposing to his girlfriend. Add on the fact that the rest of her 5 siblings were home as well for the first time in months we were all together, FOMO took over her workday as she wept. FOMO is a funny acronym and it made me think how it’s the perfect explanation for journalist’s grief. There’s always going to be a bigger story, and a better time, but the thing is in journalism time is everything, and sadly you don’t always chose when it comes and goes. You may be missing the biggest story of your life because your chose to do a story on a cat that can do a handstand, in the middle of the desert, with no service, as you were missing the 18 missed calls from your boss to get your ass to the rally of revolutionists that went violent. There’s always going to be a different story to write about, but what I realized is that if you’re always worried about missing out, you’ll never get anything done nor will you ever be happy with what you write.

Cigarettes

MAY LEAD TO A SLOW DEATH. This and the several other cigarette warnings I watch my friends open their pack and grab a cigarette make me chuckle. At first, (meaning when I first became aware of cigarettes and their effects) I always knew they were bad, but who didn’t? Cigarettes will kill you. Cigarettes are bad for you. Cigarettes will ruin your life. It’s another bullet on the list of addictions that no one listens to the warnings about either. People do as they please, that’s our country was built on right? A free country, you can do what you want. Well a lot of the time what you want can be swayed by what you aren’t allowed to do. Face it, the more you tell someone no, the more that devil on their shoulder grows and grows until the compulsive act takes over and choses the dangerous action. In the 1920’s alcohol was made illegal. This time is widely known as prohibition, but that period is also widely known for underground bars and illegal production of alcohol. The word “NO” just gives people a challenge and a more intense drive to what ever it may be they shouldn’t be doing. People know it’s wrong, and although the attempt to warn them to stop, it’s coming from the source that would fall and crumble if their smokers listened. They aren’t dumb. They look to their reliable product, and plan their tactics very strategically. 

finals

It’s that time of the year again! Decorations are put up, thanksgiving dinners are eaten and holiday music is played throughout houses and on radios. Oh but did you think I meant that stuff? Of course not, what it really means is crunch time for students. The end of the year marks the end of yet another semester. Sitting in the library each day you realize, the numbers start to grow. In mid October you could comfortably find your quiet spot and dwell until you couldn’t stay any longer. When finals come around, if you’re not 2 inches away from the next frantically studying and learning the past semesters worth of material, then you’re at home avoiding the crowd. It happens every year. No matter if you go to the library every day up until this dreadful week comes, you will not be repaid for it (in seating I mean, grades say the rest).  So as you all enter the worst week of most of your semesters, good luck!