Why can’t it always be light out?

“I don’t want it to be dark right now. I wish it was daytime,” she said. “I wish it was daytime for the rest of my life. The night is just too hard.”

Some things in life are just too hard to imagine happening.  A death of a loved one, the death of a husband. This is something that no one wishes upon another, but unfortunately it is reality for some people. This is an expected event when one goes into the military field but still, this does not make it any easier to lose someone.

In “The Final Salute” by Jim Sheeler, Katherine Cathey loses her husband, Sgt. Gavin Conley, while on the job as a Marine. Cathey was pregnant and obviously shocked and helpless when she received the news.

I can’t imagine having to report, as a journalist, on an event such as this one. How can one spin such a catastrophe into a sorrowful event? I feel like this would be nearly impossible to do (or to do well.) I give these journalists much credit to embarking on such a hard task. I have a new found respect for them and hope that if I ever have to to do the same, that I can do half as well as them.

Cathy

There’s a monster inside my head!

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, “Mrs. Kelly’s Monster” by Jon Franklin.  This feature was  incredibly interesting because Franklin described the entire surgery that was performed on a woman to remove her two aneurysms.  He was very descriptive in literally describing every stage of the operation so that I actually felt like I was in the operating room.  I have never personally witnessed a surgery, but now feel like I have after reading this story.

I especially enjoyed the “pop, pop, pop” description of the sounds from the heart monitor.  This small detail was continuously used in the story and it helped to really bring the surgery to life.  I also think that Franklin’s usage of the first person helped to draw readers in and keep them entertained throughout the piece.

Although I was sad that the monster won in the end, I still really enjoyed this story and hope that the rest of the class did as well!

Cathy