The adventure begins

I arrived in Lawrence, Kansas on Saturday, greeted by three high school friends dressed in gym clothes, ready to move me in, and scorching, unrelenting, oppressive heat. I’ve forgotten how bad summers in this region can get. Seriously, it was 100 degrees at seven p.m.

I’m all moved in to my cool apartment, which is a short (uphill) bike ride to campus and I’m starting to figure out what I need to do in the coming days; classes start on Thursday.

There are a few things I need to do: get books, figure out how to write for the Daily Kansan paper, find out if there’s an orientation I need to attend. When I was preparing to go to undergrad, these things were spelled out for you. The school sent a welcome packet telling me what books I needed to buy and the important things I needed to know about Miami University.

KU, and in fact the majority of schools I applied to, seem loathe to provide helpful information. Columbia College forgot to send me an acceptance letter, but CUNY and Boston University were very forthcoming. I was given the runaround by the presitigous Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern (which, considering the turmoil there, might not be surprising). KU has also proved confusing, as I was told first that I was denied admission, then a few months later that I actually did get in.

So now I’m preparing to learn all about writing, reporting and editing for the digital age, as well as the tantalizing-sounding class, Research Theory. I’m sure it will be very valuable; one of the assigned books is called “Learning to Hate Americans”,which sounds bad at first, but actually explores how foreingers view Americans. Sounds interesting, but I’m in Kansas here, so I’m hoping it’s not a USA love fest, but something more objective and transparent. The natural history museum on campus currently has an exhibit on Darwin, so I think I’m safe.

One of my professors is a former Pulitzer Prize winner and I’m certain I will learn a lot from her, as well as the other distinguished professors here. Hopefully they’re up to date with the things I need to learn as a journalist; most of them appear to have been at KU since about the time Wilt Chamberlin marched about campus, but the school has been a social media advocate for years.

Nonetheless, let’s get it on!

Coming up on the Web Stained Wretch…I’ll respond to an article I’ve not even read yet. The Tribune’s DC Swamp blog discussed the media’s response to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. Hallows. I’ve refused to read anything on Harry Potter since I accidentally read something on how a very important character dies at the end of Half Blood Prince. (Notice I didn’t say who???) I started reading Deathly Hollows Hallows yesterday, and I’m already 250 pages into it. I imagine I’ll be done sometime next week. Until then…