Introductions are awkward, but important.

    Introductions are right next to being sung happy birthday for me. Awkward and redundant, but necessary. I've never been really good at one particular thing, in grade school class introductions I can remember using really boring factoids like, "I don't drink milk", "I can't roll my "R's" and so on. I was always envious of the kids who came up with really cool facts about themselves. 

    And here I am, years later, introducing this new adult version of myself. I can't say much has changed, I still don't like milk, but I know that I have grown and continue to grow as I chase my dreams. If there is one thing I have always thought I was in tune with, it's people. Talking to them, listening to them, sharing experiences. I took every Psychology class LB had to offer, and yet I was trying to force myself into a medical career that would never bring me real satisfaction. This year has allowed me to take a step back and reevaluate everything important to me and what I hope to leave behind as my legacy. Pursuing my career in Psychology is just getting started, but I finally feel confident in my decision that this path will lead exactly where I am meant to be. 

    Growing up in a small town on the Southern Oregon Coast I was always taking pictures of the outdoors on my phone, and sometimes friends' cameras. I have been known in my friends group to always get the perfect angle, whatever the stakes, and take way too many pictures. Now that I have a small family most of my amateur photos taken on my IPhone consist of our son Porter, our dog Charlie, my husband Tyler and our many adventures. 

    This class is something I never thought I would take, but I'm glad I did because so much of the human experience as we know it is captured in photographs and reporting. Although it might seem like it's just another prerequisite, photojournalism has the power to influence minds, put faces to stories, and give life to what is happening outside of our current situations. The dynamism it has to spread empathy is limitless, and that happens to be one of my personal goals. I am hopeful I will learn about how photojournalist's shape the way we view our world, the responsibility that comes with that virtue, and how in our own stories we have an obligation to always remain true and factual to who we are so others feel comfortable to do the same.