August 31st PART THREE

I must say reading the news, whether it's happenings in the United States or around the world, sometimes makes me sick. I'd much rather curl up with a happy novel with a happy ending. Between all the horrible things going on in the world and the overwhelming attention given to the election, it's just wonderful when something on an international scale like the Olympics is going on. I just love the Olympics. I watch it and read about it religiously. I know there are always stories about protests, scandals and corruption tangled in with the amazing or the unbelievable, but it just doesn't matter. How can you hate the world so much when you have people like Michael Phelps conquering the unimaginable?

I love that there is something in this world, much like the World Cup, that everyone around the world wants to know about and feels just as passionately about as everybody else. When I was living in Australia, the same excitement I felt emerging in my stomach when anything popped up on the news about the upcoming Summer Games bubbled in my Australian friends' stomachs too. People around the world just love to get involved in this international event. The pride we have in our countries and the sudden interest we have in other countries when a team or individual does something amazing from another land is just awesome.

The reason I wanted to mention this is when I signed up to take Issues in the News, I thought negatively about it. I've never liked the news of Journalism in general for many reasons. I know I'm headed into this industry, but something about sitting in the newsroom of the Ithaca Journal last week made me want to change my major. I listened to a reporter make an endless amount of phone calls trying to gather as much information about a rape incident, and I wanted to tell him to just leave everyone alone and mind your own damn business. I guess I'm not a supporter of gossiping or being nosy, so I might be headed in the wrong direction.

But good things like the Olympics show there are things worth talking about and writing about. There are good things in this world worth discovering and sharing. I know sharing the bad is necessary for improvement, but I just wanted to let you know now I might complain a lot in this blog about the news and the world. I thought I'd start off positively not only for my reader's sake but for my own. Maybe if I keep in mind reporters aren't always about business and exposing pain, I'll actually be happy about the path I'm currently on.