It's Way Too Late, But I Feel Like Writing

It's 11:30 pm, and I have class tomorrow at 8:30 am. I just feel like writing; I don't feel like doing my readings, although I should.

My professor got very angry this morning when he realized that not a single person had done the readings, nor had they printed them out. He was so frustrated, he finally stood up and said, "Everybody just go home!", basically translating to, "I'm frustrated and disappointed and therefore don't know what to think of you guys. Thanks for ruining my day! Lazy people..." I felt kind of bad because I hadn't done the readings myself. But it's been a long, interesting day and I just wanted to write it out.

Something terrible local-wise that has happened (a tragedy that is a bit similar to the one I will detail later) is a student from the private college across the way was either struck by a train or jumped off the bridge into the river to avoid being hit by it and died. Since it's not one of our students, it's the talk on campus, a controversial event that fascinates people. This is a rural area, and this kind of thing doesn't happen often. It's kind of sad though that people don't really care that he died, assuming that the kid was drunk. The results of stereotyping can be heartbreaking at times.

I wrote an opinion/editorial for the newspaper this week, of which I will show at the end of this post. I also spend a significant amount of time and energy writing a legitimate news piece for this issue. I worked with my journalism professor on it twice. I guess I just wanted to write, and write well. Plus it was about the local murder about a 12 year old boy, who died a year ago. His murder had never been solved, but there is a $40,000 reward raised by the family to be given to whomever gives a tip that leads to an arrest. The police have been very quiet about the whole ordeal. I don't think I have ever put together such a piece with such adamant effort before. I think I like the result of such effort; this spurs me to do more with journalism and writing in general. Actually, I will publish this news piece instead because it is far more important than reading me complain about an infestation of seagulls.

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Justice For Garrett: One Year Later

Tiffany Miner

Business Manager

Potsdam and the surrounding communities were shocked one year ago this week when Garrett Phillips, a 12-year-old student, was murdered at his mother's apartment on Market Street.

Although police declared his death a homicide, no suspects have been named and no arrests have been made in the year since his death. Phillips was found unconscious and alone in the apartment on Oct. 24, 2011, and pronounced dead later that evening.

The only thing that has come out of the case is when Clarkson soccer coach Oral Hillary filed a complaint against the village in January, stating he had been wrongly accused as a suspect in the investigation. There has been no news about the case since that time.

In June, Brian Phillips, Garrett's uncle, created the Justice for Garrett reward fund. Money donated to this fund will be given to anyone who provided a tip or information leading to an arrest or conviction of Garrett's killer.

“I am confident that justice will be served—hopefully sooner than later,” Phillips said.

To help promote awareness for the cause, organizers distributed “Justice for Garrett” yard signs that were originally sold by the Phillips family. When the demand for the signs became too great, CJ's and Ace Hardware became venues for the signs. These signs are solely for awareness for the project, as Justice for Garrett makes no money off of them. Phillips said that a highway billboard for Justice for Garrett is also in the works.

The Justice for Garrett fund is bolstered by community donations. The family has also been raising money for the fund by selling T-shirts, and they organized a motorcycle benefit at the end of August.

More than $40,000 has been raised for Justice for Garrett. However, despite the efforts of the organizers, no one has come forward with any information leading to an arrest.

“If the police solve this crime without a tip or information, then we [Garrett's close family] will discuss where it will go,” Phillips said.

Phillips also said that if no one came forward with information, the family would donate the money in the fund to several local North Country organizations, such as the mentoring program through the middle school Garrett attended.

For the anniversary of Phillips's death, Tobe O'Brien, a Potsdam High School senior, organized a concert in his honor. Six local students sang at the concert, with a special performance from Garrett's cousins. Funds raised from the concert will go to Justice for Garrett. The concert, which was held Wednesday at the high school auditorium, was an opportunity for community members to celebrate Garrett's life.

Anyone wishing to donate to Justice for Garrett can do so by calling Duane Phillips at 315-276-6069. Also, anyone with any information related to the murder are strongly urged to contact Potsdam Police at 315-265-2121.

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No postcards today, but I'll write a proper post in a couple of days. 

Autumn Ponderings

The season of autumn is still prevalent here--the colors are starting to fade, but there is still beauty in the trees and in the scent. In fact, the past couple of days have been extremely mild, and I'm pretty sure it hit 70 here today.

The paper I was talking about last week; I finally finished it. I completed it the night before it was due, and though I thought I would never get it done, I did. That was the probably the most challenging thing I have ever written before and it caused me a lot of stress. I have to write another paper similar to it at the end of the semester, but I'm not worried about it because I'll have a structure to borrow off of. We're reading some really interesting books in this class--I'm thinking of reviewing one of them for this blog if I ever get the time.

I'm pretty excited about Halloween and similar festivities--I decided to do a quick throw together costume and be a vampire. One of these years I would like to sit down and actually do a elaborate costume but I don't see when that would happen. Last year I dressed up as a scarecrow and it looked great. I'm carving pumpkins a couple of times and might just be daring enough to go to my campus's annual midnight showing/re-enactment of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It's something the campus does every year, but I've never went because I've heard stories about people wearing negligible amounts of clothing and a lot of sexual implications. But I think I might as well give it a shot and leave if things get too awkward.

Also, with every post I figured I would showcase three postcards from Postcrossing. Maybe some of these more frequented blog posts will lack postcards, but I think it's something I would like to do on a general basis. There will probably be a theme every week as well.

This Week's Spotlight is postcards from Germany!

Through Postcrossing, I get many postcards from Germany. Some of my most favorite postcards come from there, and as I have always wanted to learn German, I am a bit impartial to cards from there. I specifically chose three with German on them because I think it's pretty awesome.

Received October 2012, Dortmund, Germany

This has become one of my personal favorites, not just because of the kitten and the tortoise (which is a sure winner in my book), but because of the German on the postcard. This kind of reminded me of an American photo one would put on their wall as a poster (minus the German).
The English translation is crappy due to Google Translate's suckiness, but it basically says happiness is a friend who can help you out when times are tough.

Received August 2012, Nordhorn, Germany

I laughed when I received this one. Google translated the German as "Prince Charming is waiting!" I thought it was pretty hilarious and I enjoyed it. Out of the frog cards I have received, this one is probably the funniest. By the way, it is actually white, not brown; that's the lighting on the card when I took the picture.

Received June 2012, Wilhemshaven, Germany

Another one of my all-time favorite cards, the German on this one translates to something about running birds? I'm not sure. At any rate, it looks pretty awesome. I get a lot of bird and frog cards because I ask for them, and I really think that this is one of the nicest ones I have.
I've never actually been to a beach or the sea, so getting one with water on it also reminds me I've got to visit a beach sooner or later!






Even though this week has been stressful, I've eliminated most of it by spending time with friends and enjoying myself. After all, isn't that what college is for?

Postcards, Poems, and Perils

Six weeks have passed in a flurry of budding friendships, new experiences, and new schedules. I am writing this as I am taking a break from a very large paper that is 45% of my grade and is proving extremely difficult for me. I love the professor's class, Contemporary British Literature, but this is becoming a challenge that I don't even know I can achieve. Thankfully, I have come together with my thesis and will be meeting with my professor in a couple of days about the paper. I really hope that this can release any stress I am having about this paper.

I just got back from my "October Break," and even though it was supposed to be a time for me to relax, priorities and stress from other sources besides school keep piling up. Life is not easy, especially at this time in my life, apparently. Things are going to be picking up again on campus starting tomorrow and it's back to my regular schedule. I am, of course, looking forward to another class with Dr. Novak, the newest professor on campus and one that I have become quickly fond of. The other day she invited me to her office and we had a interesting talk about politics (of course), society, and where the world is going. This blog is not for sharing my political opinions because I don't want to piss people off, but I do rather enjoy a good political discussion. During class last week, though, she did say something that depressed me (and probably the rest of the class). "I am really glad I am as old as I am," she said, "because then I don't have to see what this country will become." As depressing as that statement is, it's kind of true. I for one fear for the future; what will become of this country and what exactly will result out of this endless bickering between two ideals, two visions for this country? That is a question that will be pondered by me and countless others as the world moves on, I suppose.

Anyways, I threw in a poetry entry for Silverinkblot's (deviantArt) Color Poem Contest. It's been so long since I've written poetry that I thought I sucked at it. For a first try in a while, it was pretty good. I want to maybe try my hand at some more prose (for deviantArt contests generally) in the near future.

And now a couple of postcards from my ever-growing collection of postcards from Postcrossing. Right now I don't have the money to send any more postcards, but I have amassed a nice collection from the time when I did have the money for stamps. Here are three of my favorites:

South Germany, received September 30, 2012

This postcard I received from a woman named Sabine, who lives in Germany. She said that on clear days she could see the Swiss Alps, because she lives close to the borders of Austria and Switzerland. I love birds, so this is one of my favorites because of that. It's just such a crystal clear photograph that I fell in love with it.

Sent from Washington, United States, received September 25, 2012

This is one of my personal favorites as well, and the photo I took of it with the camera on my cell phone simply does not do it justice. Even though the sender was from Washington State, not Idaho, it is still a beautiful homage to autumn and fishing (the little shadow there is fly fishing in the Salmon River).

Sent from Belarus, received September 15, 2012

Even though this was sent from Belarus, this is a photograph of the Empress of Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution and World War I. The sender said that since she was born in Russia, she wanted to share this with me. With the empress Alexandra is her only son, Alexi, heir to the throne of Russia. However, Alexandra, the tsar Nicolas, her husband, Alexi, and the rest of her children were killed at the end of World War I by the Bolsheviks that were imprisoning them. I really enjoy postcards that force me to look up historical backgrounds and events of other nations; there are many things about the world that I don't know and I still have yet to learn.







With that, I should probably work on some more of my paper.