Helping Others Blog

After looking at all my classmate's blogs I decided that I was going to try to be more FUN in my blog and before I continue mine, my mom asked me to help her make a blog of her own.

She is very into Facebook and reconnecting with old friends. She has an entire community of people that she interacts with. All these people are from all over the world. In my mom's Facebook community, there is something that each person contributes or has a niche for posting about. Her friend Mark posts political updates, her friend Cindy posts scrapbooking tips, and my mom posts recipes for the dinners she will be making.

So I decided to make her a cooking blog where she can post pictures and recipes of her menu items she always puts on Facebook.

Learning to Make Some Time

As my days pass and my weeks pass even quicker, I find myself forgetting to set aside some time for my passions and hobbies.

I first started out in college with the mind-set that I wanted to be a photojournalist. Photography has always been my biggest passion. However, when I started college my path went towards editorial versus photography and I fell in love with magazine writing. Sadly, as my schedule becomes more busy with studying, writing, and finding time to sleep--I've realized I haven't picked up my Canon in over 6 months.

I miss what used to be my biggest passion and I've decided that in order to make time for my favorite hobby I need to challenge myself. I came across a website that encourages photographers to keep up with their art.

I've decided to take part in the 30 Day Photography challenge and the first item on the list: self-portrait.

#1

To charge or not to charge..?

As I am becoming more independent and nearing the end of my college experience (not to mention about to embark on a trip to Vegas) I found myself wrestling with the idea of whether or not I should get a credit card so I can start building credit.

Where should I start? Where should I go? Who should I talk to? These are questions I had no idea how to answer.. So what do you do when you have a question you need answered and don't know where to start?

Go to the internet.

I came upon a great credit card website that broke everything down and explained all the options for me based on my limited credit history. I applied for a credit card that has zero interest for a year, a rewards program and a reasonable limit so I will always be able to keep everything balanced.

A Dead Dell

I was very excited when I received my Dell Laptop for my college gift from my grandparents. (They don't give high school graduation gifts, they give "welcome to college gifts") However, even though my Dell has been a trooper for the last 5 years, it seems after the last hard drive crash (3rd time) I need to look into getting a new laptop. I am aware that 5 years with a laptop is a lifetime in technology years, but I thought that if you took great care of something it was supposed to last...and not break down on you the week before midterms! After clutching to my iphone for the last week because I have been internet deprived, I've found myself eager to hunt around the web for the best laptop and price.

I first started by acknowledging that my 15" screen laptop is far too big and heavy to carry around in my backpack. So I began looking around at 10-11" laptops that would be easy to tote around without hurting my back. I came across a website that offered great prices and reviews from consumers and businesses. I decided to purchase an HP mini netbook and I look forward to being rid of my Dell that I can't quite count on anymore.

Ah, technology...can't live without it.  

A Little Bit Of Relaxation

With only one day off during my 60+ hour week, I find myself becoming so excited for spring break that it is consuming most of my thoughts. Having time off is a rarity for myself as the semesters progress towards graduation, and I will admit--I am extremely excited for a break.

Having traveled most of the United States and planning most of my oversea travels, I realized why I am so excited for spring break, I have never been to Vegas and that's where I'm headed!

As I was looking at websites for Vegas, I quickly realized that the travel websites are about two things: booze and money... and I'm looking to do more than enjoy a cocktail and drain my money into a lit up machine. However, I came across a different website that was nestled in between links trying to take me to clubs and casinos. The website is called The Other Side Of Vegas.

I am very excited that there is an entire website that has the same perspective on Vegas as myself. Shows, ghost towns, museums, antique shopping. I have everything planned out. Now all I need is for time to fast forward to two weeks from now so I can start my spring break!

Travel Thoughts

For the summer I have been looking at different places to go abroad. I can't wait to travel everywhere but I have to choose somewhere to go first. As I was looking around at different places I found myself leaning towards India as my first choice. Mainly, my grandfather had great things to say about his travels there. As I was looking around for different websites about India I found a website that I thought was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

http://www.panoramas.dk is a website that has 360 degree panoramas of different places throughout the world. As I found myself looking at the Great Wall of China and the Eiffel Tower, I thought I would sneak a peek at the Taj Mahal. http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen/fullscreen23.html. I thought it was such a fun website that I came across when looking for information about India!

Website That Caught My Attention

Being sick with strep throat this weekend has left me bedridden and computer crazy. With no voice to talk to anyone, I have been either sleeping or using Stumble Upon to groggily cruise the internet. Stumble Upon is a website that randomly selects websites based on a series of interests the user chooses when first signing up.

Stumble Upon takes me to many websites and more often than not, I don't find a site that can hold my interest for too long. However, the site FARK popped up and caught my attention for longer than 30 seconds. Fark is a website that displays real news from different sites however, it isn't typical 5 o'clock news that people are used to. The headlines read: "Kansas City is Being Torn Apart By Chocolate Beer," "How you can hide from Google. If you dare," and "Obesity epidemic hits US pets. Your dog wants a steak, but could use a salad."

Overall, I enjoyed the website and their creative headlines that made me read news reports that I otherwise wouldn't have taken a second look at.

Thinking About the Future

As I find myself coming to the end of my college experience, I have been thinking more about the future as a tangible reality. I am a journalism major with a minor in professional writing and I graduate UNM in December. I am currently at my second internship with a magazine, where I gain the best writing experience. I have also noticed that my UNM elective classes (interviewing, editing) are all courses that will prepare me for the "real world" journalism jobs. In my advanced multimedia journalism course, my professor had me put together a virtual resume with all of my work showcasing my various multimedia skills.

Thanks for stopping by my blog,


Kelsie Soward

Hello Writing for the Web Class!

My name is Kelsie Soward and this is my blog that I have used for all my UNM classes since I was a freshman. I am now a senior and I graduate this fall! My  major is print journalism and I currently intern at Albuquerque The Magazine and it has been a great experience so far! My favorite hobby (aside from writing) is photography.

My grandfather was a Master Sergent in the United States Air Force and subsequently he moved my family around a lot. My uncle and aunts were born in Germany and my mother was born in Greece. Throughout his travels he took pictures in every country and documented every moment. When I was 11 years old, he gave me his camera and this my very first camera, and where my passion for photography started. I've been taking pictures and writing down my travels ever since!

Best Story in Week 6

My classmate Brandon Call's story Head coach retires after 16 seasons was my favorite story this week. Not only is this a newsworthy story, but Brandon went above and beyond by finding so many sources to interview with. His story really captured how the athletes felt about Coach Flanagan and the quotes really drove me to continue reading the story all the way through. I would have never even known such an influential coach at UNM was retiring if it weren't for this story, making the journalistic quality very high for this story.

I loved the beginning to the multimedia piece. Its engaging and funny and its not a boring press conference about the coach retiring. You really get to see how humorous the coach was and how much he loved his job. I loved that Brandon integrated pictures from the seasons into the multimedia piece, making it that much stronger of a story. Brandon's written part tells the story of how the athletes feel about Flanagan and the video tells the story of how Flanagan feels about retiring. 

Overall I feel like this story was excellent and one of the strongest multimedia stories this semester. 

The only critique I would give is that no where in the headline or the beginning of the story does Brandon specify that Flanagan is the Girls basketball coach. You eventually in the story will understand what sport Flanagan coaches but maybe Brandon could add it to the beginning somewhere.

Best Story in Week 5

UNM Womens Rugby Goes to Nationals by Priscilla Ramirez was my favorite story this week. I had no idea that UNM had a rugby team let alone a women's rugby team that is on their way to nationals! I knew that this story would be a top contender this week when I was editing her story on Thursday. I really liked how she played up to the fact that they are the underdog going into nationals making the reader not only know about the rugby team but it makes them want to cheer for a team they may have never knew existed.

I really liked her photos in the story. Sports photos are always so compelling because they are action shots that really tell the story. Her multimedia piece flowed well but my only critique is that the audio sounded a bit funny in the story but I loved how the multimedia was different from her story making me want to listen to it all the way through.

Abandoned Route 66

A friend and I were adding to my long running photo project of abandoned Route 66. Here are some recent shots that I took.

Tattoo Photoshoot

This is a photoshoot i did with Chloe and i was trying to capture her personality and her tattoos

Welding

This is Fred Yuricich, he is a welder in Albquerque, New Mexico.

New Mexico State Fair

This was taken at the Albuquerque state fair at night with a Cannon Rebel XTI.

Senator John McCain Rally

Senator John McCain and Cindy McCain rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

This was taken during my flight in a hot air balloon during the 2008 New Mexico Balloon Fiesa in Albuquerque.


This was taken during my flight in a hot air balloon.

Portraits

This is Josie posing for a portrait from my Photo-Journalism class at the University of New Mexico. This picture was taken on the second day of class and after only knowing her for a few minutes.


Jacob Kilgore takes a picture after the pie eating contest in Elephant Butte, New Mexico at their 10th annual birthday celebration.


Brayden Carter is three months old and he enjoys watching Spongebob, which is what got him to evoke this emotion in this picture.