Time flies....

Feels like we just started this course, but here's our final project

Writer-friend

   She's been described as having the cheekbones of Jenna Maroney, mind you that description was from her.  High waisted skirts, 1,000s of sweaters,  ever-present, thick-rimmed glasses, she easily starts conversations with friends of friends on front porches over cheap beer and children's shows about literary canines.  If at first glance you think she's quiet you'd be wrong but I can forgive you for thinking that.

PSU This American Life

The geniuses at This American Life did an episode recently about Penn State.  At this point, I think writing a story about Penn State is like telling a Sarah Palin joke.  It'd better be really good, because I've probably already heard it.  What Ira Glass and co. did was really interesting though.  They included some new stuff, but it was mostly a revisiting of a show they did in 2009 when PSU was named the #1 Party School in the nation by the Princeton Review.  The contrast was awesome and the show was, as always, really well done.  File this under "what I want to be when I grow up."

"What we learned from 5 million books"

I'm a huge nerd, so I have a favorite Ted Talk.  This is it.  Not only is the topic interesting (and digitally-focused!) but these guys are hilarious.

is listed as "In a Relationship" with Twitter

The Atlantic ran an article this week that talks about a recent study that says 40% of college students rank the internet more important than dating. 'I Can't Marry You, I Have a Twitter Account I Need to Maintain' has me figured out.  Not because I have a hard time prioritizing digital reactions over human interactions, I do prioritize my digital persona over my dating life.  If I had to pick between a month without a date or a month without Google Reader, it'd be a no-brainer.

Destruction documented

This is a picture I found in a Buzzfeed article (link here) published this week.  The image on the bottom is Joplin, MO after this year's tornado while the image on top is the Google maps image of that same block.  I thought this was  a really great idea and tells a really great story using digital components.  I'm almost jealous I didn't think to create it first.....