What Does Meaning Mean?

     Want to know how to stop a conversation in its tracks? Tell the person you're talking with that you're a philosophy major. If the conversation continues at all, the next question will inevitably be, "What are you going to do with a philosophy degree?" If you tell them that you plan on teaching philosophy, they will reply with an, "Oh." Awkward silence follows.

     This has been the basic pattern of many of my conversations over the past couple months. It's not that I don't understand why. Philosophers have a well-earned reputation for being kind of odd. I mean, when you start questioning the meaning of meaning and study people who said that motion and time are an illusion, a few raised eyebrows are to be expected. Maybe that can be a project of mine, to bring philosophy down from the high pedestal it's usually placed on and make it less intimidating. I don't know how many people have told me they're "just not smart enough" to understand philosophy. To be perfectly honest, that's nonsense. Everyone has an idea of what it means to live a good life, what beauty is, what the basic structure and purpose of the universe is, (all questions of philosophy) or else they wouldn't be able to live their daily lives. Granted, people may not have good answers to those questions, but to say that philosophy is too high up for them is just not accurate.

     Now more than ever I'm confronted with the problem of what to do after getting my bachelor's degree. I guess I could work for another year to save up money for graduate school, or just dive right in and try to find a school that offers some kind of assistant teacher scholarship and maybe a stipend to cover most of my living expenses. I'll probably be researching all of this once summer break starts. It's kind of scary/exciting to think that about this time next year I'll probably be getting ready to move to another state (Mississippi doesn't have any PhD philosophy programs. Shocker).

     My current classes are going well. Logic and Classical Philosophy are my favorites. Logic because it's easy and useful, and Classical because the readings are really good (lots of Plato and Aristotle). One of the coolest things I've learned in Classical is that relativism (the idea that man determines his own morality) was disproved by Socrates well over 2000 years ago. So then, anyone care to tell me why this is the predominant theory of morality being taught in public schools today? Sounds like a paper to me. Anyway, thanks for checking in on me. I'll talk to you later.
SDG

Umbrellas and Philosophy

     I know, I know. The irony. I finally get a computer, and I don't write for months. Despair not, though, because I have actually been writing enough to keep you happy and informed. I've been keeping a news blog for one of my classes, called The Journalism Project. I learned a few things while keeping another blog (like how to insert links), which I'll try to use to give this one a boost.

     I also made a video while I was out, called Rain or Shine. You'll laugh, you'll cry. It's about umbrellas.

     On a different note, I've decided to use my writing abilities for a field other than journalism. I've been thinking about this for quite a while, almost the whole year. The longer I've studied journalism, the more convinced I've become that it's not the job for me. What really tipped me in this direction was the two-week trip to Summit Ministries in Tennessee. I enjoyed those two weeks more than I've enjoyed anything in a long time. I was surrounded by people who were interested in studying deep things, who weren't afraid to ask questions that would make most Christians nervous. It was a place for true seekers, people who really wanted to dig deep into Christian thought and understand the world. That said, next semester I'll be studying philosophy, with the idea of teaching in the back of my head. I can hardly think of anything I would enjoy more than teaching philosophy.

     What's surprised me most is how little this switch has interfered with my plans. I'm still going to write, it's just that now I'm going to be writing about things I really care about. I've already got an idea for a book. I'm thinking about calling it "Common Philosophy" because I want to show people that philosophy isn't just for the educated and "intellectual elite," but that everyone uses, encounters, and expresses philosophy in some way. We're all philosophers, we just need to learn how to do it right. I think that by talking about a lot of weighty questions in simple terms, people will see that philosophy is an unavoidable, yet enjoyable, part of life.
   
     Enjoy the blog and the umbrellas. I'll try to write soon.

SDG

The End of Jones

Well, summer is over, which means that I have to stop being lazy and start writing again. Yes, I could have written at any point during the last few months, but I just get this irresistible urge to sit down and do nothing but read and go on vacations when the weather turns hot. The good news is that I should be able to post much more frequently now since I have finally acquired my own laptop.

It feels like a long time since I've been at Jones, but it's really only been three months. I suppose I'll miss ol' JCJC, but at the same time I'm ready for something new, and USM is certainly that. Yes, I am officially a student at the University of Southern Mississippi. I'm continuing my study of journalism, with an emphasis on News Editorial (writing for print or online publications, basically). School started on the 22, which was a Wednesday, and my first assignment was due that Friday, my second on Tuesday. They don't mess around up here. However, school didn't meet Tuesday or Wednesday because of Tropical Storm Isaac.

How have I spent my summer? Glad you asked. After my graduation, I worked with my dad at our family's meat processing plant. That lasted until the end of June. I also helped him with a couple of construction projects that we did for his mother, who lives in a house that's over 100 years old. Seriously. In July, I went to a two-week, um, I guess you would call it a conference, but it was more like two weeks of intensely interesting college classes. Officially, it was an apologetics conference hosted by Summit Ministries. Apologetics means "a defense," and it's typically used to describe the defense of the Christian faith. You basically learn to defend Christianity as actually true, instead of just one version of the truth (which is an idea propagated by Postmodernism, the belief that there is no absolute truth). After that, I spent a few weeks doing almost nothing but reading Orson Scott Card and hanging out with my friends before everyone had to go back to school. That, in a nutshell, was my summer.

There was only one real downer during this otherwise happy period. When I was signing up for the Student Printz, the campus newspaper at USM, I got a little careless. I filled out the application online, and a few days later I left for the apologetics conference. I'll admit that I knew the Printz would probably ask for samples of my work, but I didn't know when and I didn't think that there might be a deadline to turn them in. I suppose it's really my fault, though. I could have found a way to check my email if I had wanted to badly enough. Let it suffice to say that my samples were late and that I didn't make it on the Printz. There's always next semester. Who knows, maybe not getting on the Printz may turn out to be a blessing in disguise, since I'm taking a couple of writing intensive courses this semester.

Anyway, my experience on the whole has been a positive one. I'll be posting again soon, I'm sure. This is Seth, signing off.
SDG

The Secret Scotsman

I was recently asked if I was from Scotland. Needless to say, it was one of the best moments of my life. For those of you who do not know me very well or have never met me, I have a red beard (my regular hair is brown) and can do a pretty mean Scottish accent. Most of my ancestors were Scottish as well, but I doubt that has anything to do with my accent. Besides, I've never actually been to Scotland and know almost nothing about it. Anyway, I was recently asked to say something for a promotional video. The video was for a dear and talented friend of mine (who I'll call Bethany Dillon) who was playing a concert. Naturally, I agreed to do it and made a very awkward and bumbling attempt to persuade people to attend Bethany's concert. Then it occured to me to try using my accent. The second attempt was much better and very convincing, if I do say so myself. Even more misleading was the video's description, which read, "I interview some Americans (and a Scotsman) on why you should come to my show."
After the show, it just so happened that I met someone who had seen the promotional video and who didn't already know that I wasn't Scottish. Ironically enough, she happened to be from South Africa and had a real accent. I felt kind of like a fake. Regardless, I ended up doing my accent for quite a few people, which I kind of enjoyed. Since then, I've come up with quite a few ideas in case Bethany decides to do any more promotional videos, such as the Angry Scotsman, Singing Scotsman, and even one involving an Australian accent. Normally, I would post the video so you could see it for yourself, but since it mentions Bethany's real name, I've decided not to. Anyway, g'night, wee bairns.
S.D.G.

The Last Jones Semester

Yes, everyone, I'm still alive. Well, it's almost time to start my very last semester at good ol' Jones County Junior College. In the fall, if all goes well, I will be starting to attend Southern Miss as a Communications major with an emphasis on Editorial Journalism. That's a fancy way of saying I'll be learning how to write for a newspaper, just like I'm doing at Jones. As far as what I'm planning on doing after that, I've been thinking about checking in to writing for World magazine. World is a "specialty publication," so called because it is written from a Christian perspective. I love it because it's real news, yet it's also made relevant to me and other Christians.
Now for a quick summary of what's happened since last year. As history will attest, my article on Proposition 26 had little effect. It was overturned by an impressive amount, although I can't remember exactly how much. The girl who wrote an article opposing mine did a good job. I disagreed with her on almost every point, but she has obvious talent. Nothing else of particular significance has happened, or at least nothing that comes to mind. The classes I'm taking at Jones are all pretty enjoyable so far. I'm also taking online classes for the first time this semester, so we'll see how that works out. What I'm most anxious about are my new staff members. Last year they turned out fine, except for one who dropped out of school. This year I've got two new members, and I'm anxious to see how they'll turn out. I think that managing people is probably the hardest thing about being an editor, and it's also one of the most useful experiences I've had at Jones. It's difficult to try to balance authority and leniency.
My second favorite class this semester would have to be Ethics. The teacher is great, but he has a tendency to toot his own horn occasionally. I will probably vent a lot of my opinions on different ethical theories here in the future, so be forewarned. I think that if I weren't a journalism major, I would probably choose philosophy instead. I think I would really enjoy teaching philosophy classes. I like philosophy for much the same reason I do journalism: it's a search for truth. I suppose truth matters more to me than almost anything else. My mom is kind of like that. She says that truth people tend to be kind of insensitive and prone to legalism, which I guess is true of myself.
Anyway, that's what's going on right now. I'll keep you posted.
S.D.G.

The First Confrontation

An editor's life is a busy one, especially when said editor has a part-time job and is enrolled in the Honors Institute. Until lately, nothing particularly interesting had been happening. I've been getting on okay with my writers, meaning that nothing negative has happened. Other than a few instances in my personal life, which I will decline to mention, life has been fairly humdrum. And yet, simultaneously, things around me seem to be heading into a crescendo.
Spiritually, my life has been getting much more interesting. I recently began attending Wednesday night youth services again, which has been food for my soul. I missed the passion that comes from pursuing God wholeheartedly with like-minded peers. It's unlike anything else. More importantly, I feel like things  are escalating. I feel a strong need to initiate a prayer time before the services to make them even more intense and fulfilling. Why I think this is necessary is difficult to pinpoint. It's part of that "crescendo" feeling I mentioned earlier, but I have no idea where it's headed. Perhaps it will lead to the next step in God's plan for my life. I'm also teaching Sunday School in the morning now. It's not a big deal, I'm just teaching out of a book. I brought the book, "Dug Down Deep," to our youth pastor and said I thought it was important that we teach the youth about the basic principles of Christianity. Of course, he responded by laying it back on me. The book is pretty much about basic theology; the non-negotiables of Christian faith which every believer should know. Stuff like the deity of Christ, the Trinity, what the cross means to us, and good stuff like that.
On a different note, things around the newspaper may soon get a crescendo of its own. For the first time, I will be writing an article for one side of a controversial issue while another writer opposes me. I will be writing in defense of Proposition 26, a proposed amendment to Mississippi's State Constitution which has drawn a lot of negative fire recently. In essence, if 26 is passed, human embryos will be recognized as people, which will entitle them to basic rights like the right to live, which would effectively end abortion in Mississippi. If you remember one of my previous posts, "Deafening Silence," you know that I am definitively Pro-Life. However, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU have launched a campaign aimed at putting doubt in the minds of conservatives. The maddening thing about it is that if people would just read the actual amendment, do some research, and use good sense, then the claims of organizations like PP and the ACLU would be shown up for the hollow sham they are. Since everyone else is too lazy, I'm going to do the research and put it all into my article.
My opponent is the President of the Student Democrats Club at JCJC. I've never spoken to her, although I see her around campus all the time. I never knew she was the president of a club, though. Anywho, I'm pretty excited to see how this all plays out. If I play my cards right, she'll just be repeating the same old things that have been circulating on the internet recently, and I'll have an article refuting each and every point she might make, and then some. It turns out that there are quite a few doctors and lawyers who support 26, so making my case should be easy. I'll post the final article on here, probably sometime next week, and let you know how everything went. Until then, dear readers.
S.D.G.

The Opinions Section

     It's about this time that the realization finally sets in that I won't have time for anything anymore. I have bartered my time for an education. This is the second week of school, and the first wave of assignments is beginning to form out in the deep. Sure, I've had a few piddling tasks to complete along the way, but the serious stuff is almost here.

     Probably the most interesting part of my school this year will be managing the people who write for me in Opinions. The Opinions section is almost always made up of the slightly odd people, people who have forsaken the approval of society for their beliefs, such as myself. The problem is that our beliefs usually clash with each other, which has great potential to get ugly. I set a few rules in place that will hopefully prevent most or all of these impassioned interactions. Most of it is pretty simple stuff, common sense things like "don't say something that you know will tick someone off," and "don't argue with anyone." I also said that articles should only be discussed with me, which will hopefully reduce the chances of a controversial topic coming up during meetings. The hardest thing will probably be holding my own tongue. It's never been a big problem in the past, but I seem to have gotten gutsier and a bit more confrontational over the course of the summer, especially about my opinions. Not that I'm complaining. It helps to have some backbone, but it wouldn't be very good management if I told my writers to behave and then started on one of my rants.

     Originally, I was going to tell my writers to put a lot of emphasis on supporting their ideas with logic and not just the power of the printing press, but I don't know if I can do that anymore, because it would be easy for me to find logical flaws in any opinion that disagreed with mine. Since I can't run the section that way, I'll have to let a lot of illogical things slide, which kind of irks me, but I can live with it. It will probably give me a lot of ideas for more articles. Anyway, that's the news for the moment.

     I'm getting sort of tired of saying "until next time" at the end of every post. I need a catchphrase. Oh well.

A New Name

     I would love to write in this blog more, it's just that not much has been happening lately. At least not in the sense of "me doing stuff." However, as I said in my last post, I have been learning quite a bit lately about following God and my role in His plan. One thing I have been considering is renaming this blog. Not that I think that "A Writer's Journey" is a bad name or anything, but ever since I've felt that God put a writing gift in me (more than a year ago), my focus has been getting less on the Giver and more on the gift. I would like to remind myself and inform others that I write for one purpose only: to give glory to the One who has redeemed me. I don't write to make money or for fame, and I mean that in the strictest sense. Usually when people say that, they mean that they're not trying to make a lot of money, or garner too much attention. What I mean when I say it, is that if I never get hired for a single paying writing-related job in my life, I won't care. I've stopped caring about where my next meal will come from or how I'm going to survive. My God is much too powerful and much too faithful to His followers for me to worry about those things. The goal is not my survival, but God's glorification. Of course there's always the genius who will read that and say, "Well it's hard to glorify anyone if you're dead because you didn't worry about surviving." As I've already said, my God is faithful. He worries about the survival part for me. What's that, Mr. Genius? It's irresponsible to think that way if you have people depending on you, like a family? I say my family (no, I don't have one of my own yet) would be much better off in the hands of Someone who knows exactly what they need and how to provide it, instead of relying on a flawed, corrupt, and foolish man such as myself. Of course, that's not to say that there's no effort required on my part. I have the responsibility of taking the opportunities that God sends to me as a means of survival, such as a job, and working as hard as possible to make the most out of that opportunity. I also have the responsibility of discerning which opportunities I need to take and which I don't, but that will come automatically as long as I stay close to God and seek His will. As I've said before, I don't think that these beliefs are radical. I think that any Christian who has spent a decent amount of time reading scripture must come to the same conclusion. Politicians, stand uncompromisingly for what's right and let God worry about the votes. Singers, sing for Christ and His glory, and let God worry about where you'll perform next. This applies to everyone who has been given a talent from God. After all, our abilities are not our own. We didn't choose them. That's why they are called "gifts," because someone had the sense to realize that they were of a divine nature, and therefore couldn't have come from ourselves. All of us have four choices when deciding what to do with our gifts. We can use it for ourselves, we can ignore it and not use it at all, we can use it for others, or we can use it for God (which usually also requires using it for others).
     Anyway, if any of you could help me come up with a new name reflecting this attitude toward writing, I would greatly appreciate it. Until next time.

The Summer So Far

Where do I even begin? It's not that a lot has been happening this summer, but the things that have happened are so important that I hardly know which to tell about first. When all else fails, go chronological, I suppose. The first thing that happened was that I went to the Ramp. It's a ministry in Alabama, in a small town called Hamilton, I believe. the Ramp is sort of like a gas station for Christians. When you're running low on fuel and you feel that life has lost its luster, you go to the Ramp and get reminded why we're living here at all. We got there on a Thursday night, and I'm glad we did. That way I was able to get all the dead stuff off of me, the things I had been bogged down by without even realising it, and I could use the whole rest of the weekend to focus totally on learning from and praising God. The schedule for Friday and Saturday went something like this: get up at about 7 in order to pray. After praying, eat breakfast as quickly as possible so that no time is wasted in getting to the Ramp. After arriving, get inside the building and start worshiping. Break for lunch (optional). Eat lunch as quickly as possible and return to the Ramp. Start worshiping again, with periodic interruptions as God gives words to the ministers. Break for supper (optional). Return and worship, then hear a prepared message. After dismissal, return to temporary residence, pray, and read the Bible. Sleep (optional, but recommended).
It. Was. Awesome. And it was only the beginning. When I got home, it was like the Ramp came with me. I loved praying. I loved reading God's Word. Now when I read, God continually reveals things to me that I never saw before. I'm currently keeping track of them in a notebook next to my bed, and you can bet there will be some interesting articles in the Opinions section next semester. I think it's safe to say, because I've proven it many times, that I prefer a good message to a meal. God has been doing other things too, but that's a bit more personal than I'd like to get on this blog. Let it suffice to say that God has been working on me in a rather spectacular and supernatural fashion.
Now I would like to get on my lovely soapbox for a moment. I don't consider the kind of life I've recently started living to be radical. I consider it standard Christianity. I can't imagine living any other way. To return to the powerless, dreary, ball-and-chain Christianity that I used to have (as it now appears to me), and that I see so many other Christians needlessly putting themselves through, would be sheer madness. Do yourself a favor, and let God break you apart, then rebuild you. That's one thing that God has been showing me. We all have pride. Every last human (including myself and others like me, of course) is infested with it. What's so bad about pride? It blinds you to your faults, your sin. Think about it, would it be easier to preach the gospel to a university professor, or a homeless man? I'd take the homeless dude every time. The reason is that a professor is full of himself (generally speaking, of course). He has great confidence (and as a side note, confidence usually means pride) in his knowledge and thinking ability. Sin? Why should a distinguished man like him pay any attention to that? Repentance? Fit only for the common rabble. Salvation? The learned and the accomplished are above such things. On the other hand, someone like a homeless person, if they're desperate enough, knows that they are nothing. They are ready to cling to whatever hope someone gives them. What is the difference between these two people? Not much. Where they were born and who their parents were can probably account for most of it. Things that no one can control or boast about. True salvation can come only when we realize that we are insignificant blips in the universe. Deeply corrupted, sinful blips, at that. That is why pride is so dangerous. That is why, when I pray for people, I pray that they would have their souls broken, that God would hold all the filthy, evil rottenness of their life right in front of their face, and then offer them His glorious Redemption.
Anyway, that pretty much sums up my summer. Oh, and I'm learning spanish.

More Steps On the Journey

It's almost the end of my first year at Jones, so I figured I'd better update what's been going on since my last post. You know that Opinions article I posted not long ago? It turns out there will be plenty more where that came from, since I'm going to be the Opinions editor for the Radionian next semester! That's right, ladies and gentlemen, it's another step on my journey to becoming a professional writer. I've already come up with a few ideas for some articles, and whatever I consider my best work, or deem not quite right for the newspaper, will get posted on this site. You are very welcome. To be honest, I got kind of scared thinking about all the responsibilities I will have to shoulder as an editor, but I'm plunging in head-first anyway. That's the only way I'll be able to do this. If I try to wait until I think I'm ready, I'll never do it. I'm thinking about going ahead and writing some of the articles this summer, just so I'll have less to do when the work starts piling on in the fall. On top of being an editor, I might also have a service project, if Dr. Taylor decides to give us one next semester. I'm hoping that we'll just spend fall planning out the project we'll be leading in the spring, but you never know.
This year has gone by so quickly. When I think that I only have three more years of college, it seems like I'm already graduating. Of course, I will be graduating next year, since Jones is only a two-year college. My plans are to go to Southern Miss after Jones, but that's subject to change. My mother doesn't really like the idea, because there aren't many Christian influences there. I understand how she feels, but it's pretty much going to be that way wherever I go, unless I decide to go to a private Christian university like Mississippi College. But if I went there, I'd probably have to borrow money, not to mention move into the dorms, which would make things even more expensive. Any other Christian college is out of the question, since most of them don't even have newspapers. I'm also interested in working on a radio station, since I've been told for a long time that I have a "radio voice." I'll be studying journalism anyway, so it would be a shame not to at least give radio a shot. Who knows, I may even try television news.
From now on for this blog, I'll try to divide the posts up into three different categories.
First: Ideas. These posts will contain some of the random thoughts that fly through my head on a daily basis. These posts will also probably become the building blocks for some of my opinions articles.
Second: Steps. These posts will be about the events of my everday life, as well as those that take me closer to my goal of becoming a professional writer.
Third: Works. These will be the articles or essays that I consider to be my best, as well as any blog-exclusive pieces I write.
I think that this system will help to better organize my posts so that you, my readers, can have a general idea of what's in them before you even read them. Also, if there's one section that you particularly like, you can read similar posts just by clicking on the label. Until next time, readers.

My Most Important Story

Most writers write about experiences they've had. Even in fiction, there are usually elements that can be traced back to the author's personal life. So far, I've neglected to say anything about the most important experience of my own life: my walk with Jesus Christ.
I didn't convert just because I was scared of going to hell. I first started believing because I thought it was the right and prudent thing to do. I've always been odd like that, for as long as I can remember. To be honest, I don't remember how old I was or exactly when I accepted Jesus. I do remember that it was a long time ago. Of course, being as young as I was, I couldn't understand the implications of what I'd just done. My understanding of it went something like this: I am sinful. Sin separates me from God. God provided a way for me to be with Him by sending His Son, Jesus. That was about it. Oh sure, I felt kind of bad for some of the things I'd done in the past, but I didn't figure they were really that bad. I was thankful to this strange being who forgave me of sins I didn't feel bad about, because I figured it was probably a good idea to get on His good side, just in case everything I heard about Him was true. I had no idea what it meant that He loved me, and I didn't know what it meant to love Him back.
Recently, that's been changing. I don't know when it started, exactly, but somewhere along the line I started loving God. As I get older, I realize more and more how despicable I really am, and the idea that God still loves me becomes more amazing and unbelievable. I think to truly accept Christ, you have to realize how much you fall short of anything right or good. That sounds kind of self-depreciating, but God can't work with proud people. If you don't think you need God, then you'll never want to get to know Him or love Him. That was my problem. Once I started comparing my life with Jesus', I began to realize how far from perfection I was. None of my motives were pure, none of my actions were things He would have done. Jesus was the picture of perfection in every way I looked at it, and I was the opposite of Him. The more I looked, the uglier it got.
I'll warn you upfront, it's not easy to compare your life to Christ's example, and once you begin to understand, there's no going back. You'll have to make a decision to be either with God or against Him. I still have a long way to go in my walk, but at least I'm on the best path. The only path, really. I think that may be why people view Christianity with contempt. The idea that there's only one way to God upsets some people, and understandably so. Maybe I'll talk about that next time. If you disagree with me about something, or about everything, please let me know and we can go deeper into this. See ya.

The Honors Institute

     I wasn't sure what to expect from Honors Forum. I had attended it once before I became a student at Jones, when my older brother, the living legend Caleb Houston, was still going there. I tagged along one time, I can't remember why, and sat in the library while he attended classes. During a break, he came back to check on me and asked if I would like to go to his next class with him. I figured it would be better than playing games on his laptop, so I agreed to come along. I've always been afraid of new people, and was even more so back then, but once everyone found out I was Caleb's brother, they were the nicest people you could meet.
     We played a game where a circle of people join hands and crowd together to make the circle tight. Then, you put someone in the middle of the human fence and they try to get out. The secret is to just ask, and the fence-people will let you out. It was supposed to illustrate that the problems we face in life could be a lot easier if we would just ask for help. We did some other things which I don't really remember, and then it was over. I thought it was one of the coolest classes I'd ever been in, so naturally when I decided to go to Jones I joined the Honors Institute. The full tuition coverage and book money they offered didn't hurt, either. Now that I've been in it for a while, my view of it has changed somewhat.
     Of course I couldn't appreciate this from just one visit, but there's a lot of work that goes in to Honors. Also, and I know this will make me sound conceited (which I guess I sort of am), but I'm not used to being around people that are smarter than me. Whenever I hung out with my old friends, they would get annoyed with me for knowing more about things than they did. Whenever they had questions about troubling concepts in school, or were just curious about something, they would ask me and I would tell them about it. It wasn't long before I developed a reputation as the smart kid. When I went to Jones however, the people I met in Honors were as smart or smarter than me. It was humbling to say the least, but I finally realized that there are a lot of people in the world who are a lot more intelligent than I am.
     Overall, the Charles Pickering Honors Institute has been a great experience for me, even though I joke about being in an "Institution" sometimes. I have a feeling I'll be drawing from the resources it has given me for a long time.

The Second Semester

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm back. Finals weren't nearly as hard as I expected, so that was good. I was glad to have a break for a while, but near the end I was ready for school again. As for how I spent Christmas vacation, I'm afraid there's not much to tell. We made a surprise visit to my older sister's house for Christmas this year, which almost ended up being a disaster because we didn't bring a key to get into her apartment. Fortunately, she arrived about five minutes after we got there, saving us from freezing outside in the 20 degree weather with a strong wind. It wouldn't have been a very happy Christmas memory to come home and find your family frozen on the doorstep. Now for the question I've been hearing all day: What did you get for Christmas? This year was a pretty good haul. The most useful thing I got was a new car sterio with an auxillary port (the place where you plug in your mp3 player), which was desperately needed since weeks of listening to my limited CD collection on my college commutes got old pretty fast. The most stylish gift I got was a t-shirt with one of my favorite quotes printed on it. It comes from the penguins on the movie Madagascar: "Smile and wave, boys. Just smile and wave." I also got a book from the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series (one of my favorite series of all time). It's a collection of information on trivia and interesting news. Most of the information is pretty lighthearted, and makes for a great way to make your bathroom time more productive (let's hear it for multi-tasking). I've actually learned so much and collected so many books from the series that my family claims I learned more from Uncle John than I did from my formal education.
Today and yesterday were the first days of classes. I'm taking seven classes this semester, which come to about 18 hours a week. I've decided to try to write for both newspaper and yearbook, and see which one best suits my writing style. All this has to be balanced on top of working my regular job at the plant during the busiest season of the year. Needless to say, I'm going to be busy. In other news, I've been asked to write a series of articles for my dentist, who happens to be an old family friend. I'm going to have to do my very best work for him, since he's planning on using the articles to put on his website and possibly even in a book. As for my work at The ReView, I'm thinking of submitting my dental articles as a series of columns entitled: Straight From the Dentist's Mouth.
So that's what I'll be doing this semester. No problem, right?

Events and Ideas

     After that epic essay, it's time to get back to what's happening with life. The ReView is going moderately well. By that I mean the stories are going fine (my second one is in the latest edition), and I'm still doing well in all my classes, but it's also taking up a lot of time. College is going well, especially now that I've gotten to know a few people.
     Today I got to meet Charles Pickering. I'm a member of the honor's institute bearing his name at JC. He came to speak with us about a book he wrote, called A Price Too High, which we were required to read. It was about when he was a judge and had been nominated to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. During that time, he suffered a lot of political slander from Democrats because they knew he was personally opposed to abortion and afraid he might make a ruling against it. It's a fascinating book, if you ever decide to read it. At least I liked it. Apparently there are some students who found the book extremely boring. I suppose that's one of the reasons I'm weird. I love reading about subjects dealing with morality, controversy, or some disputed Christian doctrine. I just find the concept of right and wrong extremely interesting, especially when it comes to how we as humans are supposed to act towards each other.
     Consequently, those are the things I enjoy writing about the most. How am I going to do that as a journalist, you ask? I'll find a way. I'll write for the opinions section, or write a novel on the side. Why a novel? I have a short attention span, so trying to write an entire book about these concepts directly might bore me, or more importantly, bore my readers. I decided it would make more sense and be more interesting if the concepts could be seen in action, preferably in an exciting fiction story. Plus, I also love far-out genres like science-fiction and fantasy, so it's a win-win.
     I've got quite a few story ideas, which I may talk about one of these days. At the moment, though, I've got homework to do. Bye.

The College Experience

     I don't think I mentioned this in my last post, but I was homeschooled from kindergarten through highschool. Jones has been my first real "public school" experience. Fortunately, the transition hasn't been as bad as I thought it might be. It's mostly been just getting used to little things, like the cafeteria, class periods, and entering a row to the right of the desk you wish to occupy. When my older sister first went to college, she said it took her a while to realize that the classroom numbers that started with a one, like 117 or 123, met on the first floor, while classes that started with a two met on the second floor. One of my classmates made fun of a sign in one of the buildings that explained this concept, saying, "I feel so secure in my academic future now." Well, those signs are for people like me.
     My first test was in my psychology class, and it was done by scantron. That was different. My teacher didn't explain how we were supposed to do it, so I had to figure it out myself, but it turned out fine.
     One of the biggest surprises came when I realized that hardly any of the students cared about what they were doing. I'd heard that would be the case, but listening to all the people around me in class showed me exactly how true that was.
     Anyway, I had my interview at The ReView, and the editor told me that instead of a regular job interview, he was going to give me an assignment and see how I did. He told me to go interview two fourth grade elementary teachers who had produced the highest scoring math class in the area from an otherwise average school. I interviewed the teachers, wrote the article, and sent it in. The editor said it would be published on the front page of the September 9th edition (it's a weekly paper). I guess that means he liked it, so I was pretty excited about that. The only thing is that I already have a lot to do right now, and doing everything for that article took a good amount of time, which is something I seem to be running low on these days. I'm going to give it a little longer at least, but I may decide to quit if it gets too demanding. Of course I don't want to, I like the work, but I'm afraid it might start affecting my grades. We'll see how it goes. As always, I'll keep you posted.

Introductions

     I suppose, like most beginnings, I should start with an introduction. My name is Seth Houston, and I'm a writer.
     My decision to become so is partly documented in a previous blog, "Thoughts of an Undecided Writer," and in various class assignments relating to the subject. If you're interested in reading the blog, you can do so at http://www.usmsethhouston.blogspot.com/. However, my present purpose isn't to give you my history, although I may decide to relate that in the future. My purpose now is to tell you about my current circumstances, my direction, and myself. I was born and raised in the town of Laurel, in the state of Mississippi. Laurel is in the southern part of the state, about three hours north of the coast. I'm currently in my freshman year at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, a small town about half an hour south of Laurel. Right now, I'm inclined towards journalism. I'm taking a Monday/Wednesday journalism class, which means that I write for The Radionian, the school newspaper. I've also applied for an internship at The ReView, a newspaper headquartered in Laurel. If I'm accepted, my two newspaper jobs and 13 other hours of classes at Jones may prevent me from writing consistently.
     Now, a little about where I'm hoping to get to. I'm not really sure. I want to follow God's direction as closely as possible, it's just that I haven't received a whole lot of instruction yet. I know that I'm supposed to write for Him. Everything else is up in the air.
     I suppose you should know a little about where I'm coming from. After all, what we believe influences the way we look at everything, which influences how we write. This is true even for journalists, although many like to deny it. Journalists say they write only the facts, which may be true, but a lot depends on which facts you choose to present. For example, I once looked at several different articles about the same event, but the perspectives were extremely varied. In late May 2010, a ship carrying aid (food and medical supplies) for Gaza sailed through Israeli controlled waters. In most of the articles I read, the big bad Israeli navy boarded this peaceful aid ship and senselessly killed eight of the crew. I then found an article containing a statement from an Israeli official about the incident. According to him, the ship was sailing through a blockade that the government had set up to stop imports to Gaza. Apparently, Israeli citizens had been attacked with weapons smuggled into Gaza from ships, presumably ships posing as "peaceful," and as a result, the government decided to set up the blockade. This is a completely different picture than the other articles painted. What I'm trying to say is that journalists are biased just like everyone else, and sometimes that shows up in our writing.
    You might have guessed from the "pro-Israel" example and my earlier reference to "following God's direction," that I tend to be politically conservative. You would be correct. I don't really plan on writing about politics much, and if I do I'll try not to rant. I just thought you should be forewarned. Like I said before, this blog is mostly about my journey as a writer, and my observations along the way. Until next time, dear readers.