My photos from Roanoke’s second snowstorm. Saturday, January 30th, 2010.

Here also is a video I created as tribute to my dog: ‘A Dog Named Charlie Brown‘

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Happy Friday everyone! And welcome to my blog.

The previous posts are (if it’s not already obvious) writing assignments for my English course in college last semester. I chose the topics, and very much enjoyed writing them – so feel free to give them a read. Since the recent posts were originally for my class, this is really my first actual blog post…so please forgive me if I’m terrible at this.

I would love to use this blog to reflect on things that are on my mind during the day, and also to share pieces I find on the internet. But, since I haven’t been able yet to take the time to read anything over the internet today, I’d like to share a post that my favorite news anchor (and biggest journalistic inspiration!), NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, wrote and posted to his Daily Nightly blog Wednesday afternoon.

And I want to focus your attention back onto something you may be sidetracking from. Over two weeks ago now an earthquake hit a country already under the poorest conditions, full of children without parents living in orphanages. You saw the devastation, the helplessness, the desperation, and the faces of those children – and all of that still has a very long time to go. The people of Haiti are still suffering, and need our love and help. All I ask of you is that you please remember them, pray for them, and do all that you can to help these people. They need us, and frankly, we need them. Please visit this list of ways that you can help, and give as generously as you can.

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Just moments after President Obama delivered his speech on his new strategy for Afghanistan, the chatter around the world began, and debates on whether this new strategy was a realistic or non-realistic one arose. There are a number of points of view on the new strategy; politicians, military families, normal everyday citizens – each one having their own right, and each one important. But there are no more important opinions on the new Afghanistan strategy than those of our United States troops fighting in the war in Afghanistan, and their commanding Generals on the ground. And of course, the Afghan citizens whose future lies in our hands, as well as their own.

A believed reality that many have stated, including the Taliban, is that the new strategy to send 30,000 new troops will lead to more American casualties. The Taliban are also aware of American’s ailing economy, and say that the surge of 30,000 additional troops will give insurgents an opportunity “to increase their attacks and shake the American economy, which is already facing crisis.” (Asharq Alawsat – “The leading Arabic International Daily – English Edition”) Despite these comments, commanding General Stanley McChrystal remains very hopeful and confident that the new strategy will be successful, assuring Representative Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, that the troop infusion will work and telling the Representative “I believe we will absolutely be successful.” (Associated Press)

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Over the years I have finally come to discover what my true passion is, and what I really want to become as an adult – a journalist. Journalism is full of different aspects of psychology, and while people could say that conclusion is an obvious one simply because they are human, I see several prominent aspects of psychology in the every day work of journalists. One of those aspects of psychology is persuasion. Persuasion has a large presence in journalism. A few key elements of persuasion are source, message, and audience – and the main purpose of persuasion is to seize and retain attention. While journalists aren’t necessarily aiming to persuade people to believe a particular opinion or belief, journalism is all about storytelling and getting out the message to the audience, and seizing and retaining the audiences attention in doing so.

Another example of psychology I see in journalism is adjustment. Journalists who are having to constantly report bad news, or those who report from war zones, are constantly having to work with the everyday stress so they can form some kind of adjustment without loosing their sense of realism. The purpose of adjustment is to prevent one’s stress from becoming physically and emotionally debilitating, which some would be surprised to learn is a big factor for journalists that are put under such stress from their everyday work.

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Is history repeating itself, or is it just a coincidence? When taking a look at our current situation in Afghanistan, many people alive during the war in Vietnam might feel a sense of deja-vu. Even if you don’t know too much about the details of both wars, just by knowing bits and pieces of history you could see their striking resemblance.

In 1961, president Kennedy received proposals to Americanize the war in Vietnam, but he declined all of the proposals. He was skeptical about sending a massive deployment of additional troops, feeling it was an ineffective mission, and that it would only slow the Vietnamese military in taking the conflict into their own hands and defeating the Vietcong against their communist regime. Instead of taking others proposals, he took command of the decision making. In May of 1961, president Kennedy sent 400 United States Army Special Forces personnel to South Vietnam to train South Vietnamese soldiers, following a visit to the country by vice-president Lyndon B. Johnson. By 1963, feeling that they would lose South Vietnam to the communists, president Kennedy would eventually schedule a coup against South Vietnamese president Diem and his brother and political adviser, Nhu. The coup would end in a double assassination of Diem and his brother Nhu; a result of the coup in which Kennedy did not approve.

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