Just when..

Just when residents of Amity Island thought they were safe once again, a third shark attack sent the island back into terror.
James Parks, a 30-year-old resident of Oaks Bluffs was attacked and killed at about 1:30 p.m. on July 4th. 
Many details of the attack are not clear yet, but police believe that Parks was killed when his rowboat was attacked and he was thrown into the water.
So far, a severed leg is the only remain that has been found.
Just after the joyous reopening of the island's beaches, the police department has once again ordered them closed until further notice. 

Shark update

Just when residents of Amity thought the danger of shark attacks was behind them, a fun-filled day at the beach turned to a terrifying event that sent beachgoers shooting for shore.  A local was enjoying herself in the water when she spotted a shark fin swimming beside her.  Her piercing scream alerted swimmers around her, who immediately began to flee the water.
It was determined shortly after that the fin was not that of a real shark, but of two young children playing some sort of prank. 

Caught

This year, the usually warm and fun-filled month of June was taken over by the presence of an unwelcome and vicious sea creature.
After the shark gruesomely claimed the lives of two of Amity Island's young residents, townspeople held a meeting on July 3rd to discuss what would be done about the vicious beast.
During the meeting, a townsperson cried out, "Are you going to close the beaches?"
This question brought a sudden silence over the room as all eyes turned to Police Chief, Martin Brody.
"Yes," Brody sighed.  "We are."
The small room remained silent as residents of Amity let the words of their Police Chief sink in.  For an island that thrives on tourism and the beauty of it's many beaches, this news was difficult to process.
Fortunately for the islanders, the killer shark was unexpectedly caught the following day by a local fishermen just one mile southwest of Amity.
The beast was brought to shore and immediately inspected by Matt Hooper, a marine biologist from the Ocenographic Institute in Woods Hole, Mass.
Hooper, an expert on sharks, determined it to be a Nurse Shark.
According to National Geographic, Nurse Sharks are not usually dangerous to humans.  However they can be very large in size and are known to have very strong jaws.  Although they do not commonly attack humans, they sometimes bite defensively if stepped on or bothered in some way.
Although it is still not clear what provoked this particular shark to gruesomely kill two of Amity's residents, Brody issued a press release in response to the shark's capture, in which he stated, "of course all the beaches will throughout our beautiful island will reopen immediately."
While there will be shark spotters stationed on the beaches, Brody has assured the press that "they are simply a safety precaution," and "islanders and guests alike should not be alarmed."
Nothing can be done about the two lives claimed in this tragic event, islanders hope to move forward and eventually put this all behind them.  As Brody put it in his press release, "we believe we can safely say that the danger of further shark attacks has probably passed.  Amity's darkest days are behind us."

Woah

It just sort of dawned on me that I am almost done with my first college news writing class.  It's crazy to think that just a few short months ago, I walked into Hamilton Smith with nothing but a dream of becoming a journalist, and now I really feel like I am on my way to achieving that dream.
Obviously I know I still have a long road ahead of me, but it has been so rewarding to see myself grow and improve over the past semester.  I went from having virtually no idea how to even begin a news story, to being able to crank out 600 pretty decent words in a short amount of time.
I know I still have a lot to improve on, but if I was able to learn this much in one semester, I have a lot of hope for what the next couple of years could hold for me.
Whether I became a writer for the New York Times, or end up being an anonymous internet blogger for the rest of my life, I am grateful for this experience and for all I am taking away from it.

What happened to Thanksgiving?

Yesterday while I was enjoying eating, drinking, and celebrating Thanksgiving with my family, I realized something about the holiday.  I know the Friday after Thanksgiving, or "Black Friday", has been a huge event for awhile now, but it seems to me that it is slowly taking over Thanksgiving.  I kept seeing ads on TV for stores that were opening at midnight and staying open all night, and even some that were planning to be open earlier than that.  In addition, I received about a hundred E-mails from different stores advertising online sales they were having "Thanksgiving Day only."  It just made me sad to think that we as Americans are slowly turning a holiday that is supposed to be about family, sharing, and being thankful into another excuse to be consumers.  Don't get me wrong, I love shopping as much as the next girl, and I have fun taking part in the Black Friday deals.  But I just think it is important to remember what the day of Thanksgiving is really about, and not get caught up in savings and coupons and new televisions.

Still a Little Flustered

I know the elections are over, but I still find myself getting frustrated over the extremism that I've heard surrounding both Mitt Romney and President Obama.  Obviously it doesn't apply to everyone, but so many people I've spoken to have said things to the effect of "well Obama won, so I guess I'll never have a job."  Or, "I'm glad Romney didn't win, I like having rights as a woman."
I know that these things have been the punchline of many political jokes, and not everyone who makes the reference actually believes that it's true.  In addition, I personally believe that both these statements have some amount of truth in their roots.
However, I wonder how many voters may have actually made their choice based solely on these two things.  It angers me because after all the research I did prior to the election, I know that there is so much more to the issues than these two extremes.  It just seems almost ignorant to me to make such sweeping statements, regardless of one's personal opinion on the two men.

How do they do it?

Although I do feel like I am becoming a much stronger news writer, the thing I still really struggle with is keeping my own opinions out of the things I write.  I am a very opinionated person to begin with, and writing about certain issues really sets me off.  Sometimes when reading over my stories, I notice that I slip my opinion in without even realizing.  Usually it's in a pretty sneaky way, if I do say so myself.  However I know that this is a habit that I really need to get myself away from.
I'm wondering how professional journalists keep from doing this in their own stories.  Do most journalists have this problem when they first start out?  Is it just something that you get better at over time? Or maybe I'm just much too opinionated of a person to really be successful at this, (although I'm hoping that's not the case).  I'm going to try and challenge myself these next couple weeks, by writing about things I feel strongly about, and seeing how well I can keep my opinions to myself.