Why do I have this?

We constantly see books turned into movies, movies can be turned into video games or video games can be turned into movies. There’s a lot of discourse on whether adaptations are true to the original and whether or not it is important. Common examples of successful adaptations are Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Lord of the Rings. Even without including all details or getting things wrong, it was done in a way that allowed many to still love the movies alongside the books. Some adaptations with lots of criticism include the live-action Snow White, Ready Player One, and The Giver. The biggest complaint about Snow White was the choice of actor, the use of CGI for the dwarves, and the removal of a love interest. Ready Player One was drastically different than the book, from the challenges presented to entire sections being removed. 

The holiday season is officially upon us! Driving down the street, you can see Christmas trees through windows, lights strung up outside, and decorations in the stores with Christmas music playing. You may have started your own Christmas decorating or traditions! If you’re lucky enough to get snow this month, maybe you can make snow angels or snowball fights. We don’t get snow where I live, so our city traditions include a Christmas parade and a Candy Cane Lane.Traditions are something a person, family, or community does repeatedly. It can be Christmas traditions like opening stockings before breakfast, an Easter tradition like dyeing hard-boiled eggs to make into an egg salad or deviled eggs.Traditions don’t just exist in holidays. It could be a religious ceremony, or something you do when an important life milestone happens. As an example, I have a friend whose family tradition when someone gets a college degree is to take them out to their favorite restaurant and to an activity of their choice. I have a tradition with my boyfriend for our anniversaries. Our first date was at a mini-golf course and Applebee’s, so on our first anniversary, we went back and took a picture of our hands in the shape of a heart with the moon behind it. For our second anniversary, we held our friends in front of the number two marker for the second hole on the course. In 12 days for our third anniversary, we are going to take a photo with our hands in front of the third marker. I told him he can’t break up with me until we finish all the holes.Traditions can also be cultural practices. As an example, smudging is a Native American/indigenous practice where you burn herbs such as sage to purify an area, person, or gathering. A quinceañera is a big party thrown when a girl turns 15 in Mexican culture. A Japanese tradition could include simply taking your shoes off at the door.Traditions are a way to see what matters to a person or a culture. The quinceañera is a coming-of-age celebration in which a girl becomes a woman. While a fifteen-year-old is no longer considered a woman, it is a special event that many look forward to.When the holidays start really showing this December, try to keep an eye out for other traditions you see. What are they? Do you celebrate? Make sure you are kind and considerate!

Throughout the course of my college experience, I have interviewed many people on many subjects and topics. Normally, it is about things that they are considered experts in. While doing all of these interviews, I’ve learned things from each one, such as their opinions on phones being allowed in the classroom, how the military affects young adults in the USA, but I have been impacted by it in another way.I’m better at asking questions. They tend to prompt more in-depth answers, and I’m getting better at asking follow-up questions. I used to ask questions that would get answers but the answers weren’t always ones that dove into the topic I tried to learn about. I’ve also become better at determining whether or not a question would be considered too personal.While I’m still developing my skills in that area, let’s talk about why it’s important.Your questions determine the quality of your story. The information you get from your interviewee is what you build off of when you create whatever it is you are writing. When you ask vague questions, closed questions get short answers, which leads to a short and unfulfilling story. Good questions also help you build trust. When your questions are clear and, importantly, respectful, the people you are speaking to feel important, and it leads to them being more honest. They’re not going to share personal stuff if they aren’t comfortable with you.Finally, strong questions help you realize what you didn’t know you didn’t know. No, I didn’t make an error, I’m serious! Interviews can bring forward surprising perspectives, contradictions you hadn’t considered, and emotional moments to bring your story to life!

The media is filled with new stories daily, but what makes that story newsworthy? Most of what we see is sensational, but it is mixed in with the news because we see it in a lot of the same places. There's our social media feeds, discussions with friends, family, coworkers, and on search boards or TV. There are loads of headlines, notifications, and viral posts talking about the newest story.

This quote by Joseph Smith is about kindness, humility, and mercy. Shockingly, this can be applied to news writing! 

Nowadays, everything is on our electronic devices. I can use my phone to read, text, watch TV, draw, journal, play video games, plan doctor’s appointments, do online shopping, book a train, set reservations for a restaurant, and do mobile orders for many fast-food chains; the opportunities are borderline endless. However, having a lot of things on your phone can be overwhelming. Full transparency, I have a phone with 256 gigabytes of storage to be able to have more apps, bigger apps. While I haven’t found an exact number of apps on my phone, the App Store shows that I have 76 apps that just need updating! I have many more than that.

Today is Thanksgiving! The special US holiday when we eat too much food and say how grateful we are for things, right before Black Friday when we go buy the things we want but don’t have. Ironic, isn’t it?

This blog was started for a communications class I’m currently in. We’re meant to post one blog post a day, five days a week. I’ve been able to learn some interesting stuff!

As authors, we have both feature writing and news writing.

Gordon B. Hinckley once said a very moving quote: “Each of us can do a little better than we have been doing. We can be a little more kind. We can be a little more merciful. We can be a little more forgiving. We can put behind us our weaknesses of the past, and go forth with new energy and increased resolution to improve the world about us, in our homes, in our places of employment, in our social activities.” Did you know we can tie this directly to editing!?

We all struggle, and sometimes we don’t want to ask for help. Here’s my story of not asking for help!A couple of weeks ago, my positive battery terminal stopped making a connection. In order to start my car, I needed to pop the hood, reach in, and mess with the terminal to make it connect enough to drive. I knew I would purchase a new one today, and it would be better! After all, I’ve replaced parts of my car before. Except it wasn’t easy.The first auto store I hit told me that the part I had found on the website (which claimed it was for my car) was universal and would work for my car, even after I had said the year, make, and model of it. We bought it and went back home to my car to begin replacing it with my boyfriend. We instantly ran into two problems. One, the bolts were corroded on both terminals, so we struggled for a short while until I realized that the terminals didn’t match quite right! It had two different bolt styles. At this point, we had already damaged the terminal, because we were expecting to throw it out, so we had to take my boyfriend’s truck.We were drivin,g and I looked closely and read aloud, “For trucks, RVs, and tractors.” The lady didn’t even know what I was driving! So I walked in and she said, “You don’t have a truck?” I tried to initiate a return, but they initially didn’t want to. I convinced them to, and they recommended another terminal that they said would work. It had the same bolt style, so we bought it and left.After over 30 minutes of trying to remove the bolt, we did it, and prepared to replace the terminal.It was the wrong size.We chose to go to O’Reilly (shoutout to them), and were given the original terminal for my car.We brought it home, and it was smooth sailing after that.

TikTok has an incredible algorithm, and that is the reason for its success.