Journalism: Year 1.

This is Maddie; I took this photo of her on an afternoon spent watching the LCC Gymnastics Team compete for two hours while trying to get a photo worthy on being printed for others… She had just finished performing an, from what I could tell, amazing floor routine in front of a judge, her team, and bleachers where people where scattered throughout.

This is Maddie in her reign, doing what she is passionate about.

I think about passions a lot. More specifically, the fact that I’m not passionate about anything anymore. I used to be; I used to dance competitively, earn various belts in MMA, leave school only to sit in another class to study and practice art–all of which simultaneously kept be busy for six years. I don’t do any of those things anymore and I honestly don’t know why that is, I wish I did. I wish I was passionate about something again.

I like to think that every has -ism’s; when you think of someone, their -ism’s are often the first thing that come to mind. See, this makes me sad because I swear–or, swore–that I no longer have an -ism. I’m not a “dancer”, a “MMA fighter”, or an “artist”. I’m just Nataly.

I don’t know if that’s necessarily a bad thing, I just long for a passion and, unfortunately, that doesn’t happen over night. It does, however, happen through the course of a year in journalism.

On the same afternoon that Maddie and the rest of her teammates competed, I stood to the side of the mat with my finger hovering over a button on the camera gripped tightly in my hand. If you had post me this in the beginning of the school year, I wouldn’t believe you. Nataly, who enrolled in journalism for writing purposes and, admitted, on a whim, would not believe you. Now I do. Now that I am here, reminding myself of all the times someone has told me “I saw you taking pictures today,”–of my -ism, I do.

Maddie does flips and I capture it; she is the gymnast, I am the photographer, and we are both passionate about what we do.

…

Stepping aside from what I’ve discussed, I want to talk about how happy I am–I’m not quite sure this is how formatting works but this is my blog and I’m a mess so why not let it mirror me.

Journalism has made me so happy! I mean, honestly. I’ve made so many new friends and acquaintances that I am about 112% sure I would have never interacted with otherwise. It’s kind of strange to picture myself talking to all of these different people and actually enjoying it–I know that sounds slightly bad but I swear it’s not what it seems. Just hear me out for a second:

I’ve met all of these completely different types of people, and have formed genuine bonds with many of them, all because we had one single common interest. I can smile at familiar faces when they walk past because they like journalism; because I like journalism.

I think this class has made me grow in more ways that I ever could’ve imagined and that just makes me so happy; that is all.