A article in The Washington Post  was published, Heal! The Power of Pets. It was a heart-warming story about a group of women who created a non-profit organization called Critters for the Cure. The article touched briefly on each woman and her battle with cancer, as well as how their pets made the process better.

These incredible women created this organization to help others like them. They offer to pay vet bills to those in need because they understand how important it is to have a pet.  In the article, the women were gathered together to produce a calendar. They hoped to raise money in order to support other women battling cancer, as well as to bring awareness to the importance of having pets at such a time. 

It really made you feel like having an pet is very important to those who may be ill. However, I believe it is just as important to have an animal, sick or not, in your life everyday. They really do make a difference. The article just proves my point, pets are more than just pets. They make a daily impact on people. The impact  created is so great it helps their owners overcome huge obstacles.   

Anyway, the semester is almost over and this project is pretty much halfway done! I am still in the process of finding my fourth module for the multimedia package. However, I finally got into contact with a police officer that has a trained dog that he works with everyday! He just has to approve meeting with me with his higher authorities. So hopefully that can work out for my last module! I’m pretty excited to go and meet him actually! 

I came across a blog post this weekend, which talked about a multiple of stories about animals that contribute to society in some way or another.  My favorite part was about the new puppy the Streetsboro Police Department got to start training as an official K-9 police dog. He looked so cute!!

Another interesting part on this blog was a post about a library that brings dogs in to help children excel in reading. The dogs are certified “therapy dogs,” and they listen to children read to them. This is such a great opportunity for kids because it is proven that the practice actually helps!

Like I said before, I love finding posts and stories like this!! It’s so great to see that so many people involve their pets in their daily lives. Not only is it great to see the use of animals when helping others, but also it’s even better to see that there is a significant impact these animals bring to people’s lives.

This week I have been trying to reach an agreement with Mrs. Nowakowski to meet so I finish my last module, but she’s pretty busy, so I have started to go down different routes. I have been emailing and calling different barns in Maryland where they perform therapy riding lessons. Hopefully I have better luck with them! 

Having Amy Novak as a guest speaker in my Writing for New Media class last Wednesday was definitely worthwhile. Her insight to the journalism field, as well as difficulties with running a small team with huge projects really put things into perspective for me. This area of expertise defiantly requires hard work and a lot of it.

It was pretty funny to find out that she went to college for a completely different area: History. How do you go from History to Journalism?? Well she managed to find a different passion in journalism through her internship with a documentary company.

However, I think my favorite part about her visit was her stories about working for http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com as a local community editor. It was interesting, yet kind of comforting to hear that the small town she worked in mainly cared about what was going on in their local schools, sports, town, etc. Hearing that somewhere out there in the world, people care more about what’s going on in their community,  instead of something stupid is a breath of fresh air.

It was also funny to hear that so many people call in and complain about why this was said or why this wasn’t said, people really seem to care about who is publicized and how they are publicized in that town.

Novak was just pretty entertaining overall, she knew what she was talking about, had a lot of great opinions and recommendations of what to do and what not to do. It was great to hear that the more you know about html in general the more you are likely to find a job, finally I’m taking a class that will actually help my career! (haha)

Brian Stelter is going to be a guest speaker in my journalism class tomorrow and here are some questions I made for him:

1.  What made you so passionate about blogging? Why did you even start in the first part? Would you consider it addictive?

2.  What do you enjoy doing more, blogging or writing for the NY Times?

3. How would you recommend someone who wants to be noticed for blogging go about it?

4.  Was there anything in particular that made you interested in writing and blogging, or was it just a natural ability like you said in a past interview?

5.  Do you think you would be where you are today if you never started blogging in college?

6.  It was said in an article that you were hired by NY Times to contribute to the papers integration of print and online coverage in hopes of making some of your blog posts news stories, can you give some examples of this?

7.  How do you feel knowing that the top of the line business executives read your blog religiously?

8.  How do you find time to post so much? What factors are there that make a story or tip good enough to become a part of your daily posts in your blog? 

           Last week I talked to a woman by the name of Lisa Nowakowski who puts on enviroshows anywhere and everywhere. I have yet to go meet with her, but we are in the process of setting that up. I hope to use all the pictures I take in my multimedia package because I feel like this would make a more colorful and interesting story rather then with the previous idea.

On another note…I am continuing to research my topic and…

I found blog posts made by the ASPCA about various dogs with jobs. It was pretty cute; it started by introducing the purpose of the post: dogs are more than just pets, they “give back.” I think these posts were primarily made to publicize the ASPCA in hopes of getting more people to rescue dogs!

            Even so, it was a neat way to attract people. Anyway, these posts relate to my research topic because all of these dogs, in some way or another, have a “job” of some type. Most of the stories were very heart warming and touching, the ASPCA did a great job with these posts.

            I think it’s so interesting to see how many animals become involved with not only interacting, but impacting humans. It’s intriguing to me how keen dogs are, they know a lot more than most probably give them credit for. I love finding posts like this, it just proves how much we need animals in our lives.