From Bubba Sparxxx to the Taliban

I was cleaning our spare bedroom last night, trying to gather some things together for our garage sale fundraiser this weekend, and I came across a folder of my articles that I wrote for my high school newspaper.

I remember going through the electives catalog during my Junior year, trying to decide what classes I should take. I had already completed 3 years of German and although I enjoyed it, I didn't enjoy it enough to take it all 4 years. I had already taken ceramics at least twice, maybe even three times, so that was out. I saw a journalism class and it caught my eye. I thought we would be learning different styles of writing, etc. but on the first day of class, my Senior year, I got a surprise.

Sure enough, we'd be writing for the school paper. I'm far from outgoing so the idea of having to approach strangers and ask them questions about a topic that I may know nothing about, scared the snot out of me. Thankfully, my friend, Victoria Doerr, was in the class as well so I didn't feel completely out of my element.

The first article I was assigned was to do a review on the upcoming album of Bubba Sparxxx. For those of you who are not familiar with Bubba, consider yourself blessed. During this time, iTunes wasn't around so I was forced to spend at least $10 on this trash of an album. I may still have it. Anyway, Bubba was a white trash, rap singer that had pigs squealing as part of his "music". He got a bad review.

I was able to write about a student whose father was killed by the Taliban, a student that was suing the school district because he was kicked off of the varsity basketball team and placed on JV, the memorial service of a friend that had taken his life.

I ended up enjoying this class, a lot. After high school, I continued on to Chabot and enrolled in another journalism class. I was able to build on my portfolio of stories, which included an article on breast implants, a friend that was born with Muscular dystrophy, and why Ford was better than Chevy.

During my time in this class, LaVor and I had broken up. Needless to say, I was a mess but I needed to do something with myself to keep my mind off of him. While browsing the CosmoGirl! website one night, I noticed an opening for a reader contributor. I submitted my answers to the questions, did several other things in order to be accepted, and I was. Although I didn't do very much, I had a couple ideas published as well as myself. I have the copy of the magazine around here somewhere.

I'd one day like to further my non-existent journalism carrier and become a food critic. Nothing big, just for local stuff. But for now, I'll post things on our blog.