Monday, November 26, 2007

Semester Wrap-up

I would like to thank the Academy. Actually, God did it. Without Him I would probably have dropped out a while ago. And without my parents, sister, friends, gramma, aunts and uncles, cousins, dog, fish, mosquitoes, plants and water I would have never made it.
(Picture is of my dog Shilo. Taken by me.)
My 10 year adventure in college is coming to an end. See Dad, I'm not actually going to be a forever-student! Three weeks from today I'll be sitting at home as a college graduate with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. Wow.


It's been another adventure to do this blog for the Catscan. It was pretty interesting learning about what different religions are doing to help the environment. My first favorite was talking about Christianity and interviewing my friend Will because I had a chance to share my faith. My next favorite was Rastafarianism because I learned so much about it.

I know my dad and teacher Jay were loyal readers. I'm not sure if there were really any others, but thank you.

To future Catscanners:
This class is a great chance to learn about anything you want to know for fun or your future career. I learned a lot about organization and communication as the copy chief. Any of you that decide to do editing - we learned it's easier to just call the reporter instead of emailing them when you have questions about a story. Also, don't be too uptight. My role got a lot easier once I relaxed and let people write their stories how they wanted.

Here's a couple bloopers that were changed before publishing:
"Davis Mountain" instead of Davis Monthan Airforce Base
"Papus New Guinea" instead of Papua
"Eclectic Car" instead of Electric


There were many scriptures that I clung to to get me through school, but I'm going to leave you with one that I think sums it all up.






Saturday, November 10, 2007

"An Inconvenient Truth" in hotel rooms.

(Photos Courtesy of Wikipedia)


Guests at Gaia Napa Valley Hotel and Spa will find a copy of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" next to the Bible from the Gideons in their rooms. The hotel also includes a book on Buddhism in each room.

We had a guest one morning at church from the Gideons in Tucson who made a passing statement about California hotels replacing Bibles with "An Inconvenient Truth," so I had to look it up and find out what's happening. My first thought was "there goes my trip to California." I found only one hotel that does this and the Bible is still there. But I still wanted to explore this idea for this week's blog.

(Photo Courtesy of a Wikipedia)

The Gideons International is an evangelical Christian group whose mission includes making the Bible available worldwide. The group buys Bibles through donations and puts them in hotels, motels, jails, doctors offices and pass them out on college campuses. Our guest speaker at church said there are numerous testimonies of business travelers reading the Bible in a hotel room and giving their lives to Jesus as a result.
The new choice California travelers have is to read "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore. This book is about the global warming trend and how to stop it. It was published in 2006 and companioned by a documentary featuring Al Gore. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his efforts on educating people about global warming.
(Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia)


The remaining question is will other hotels do the same? While supporters of Al Gore applause this decision Christians are concerned about the impact. Will "An Inconvenient Truth" end up replacing Bibles in hotel rooms?