November Pain

I'm back! A few short hours after I wrote my last post, I woke up unable to get out of bed. I had been struck again!!! As I write this, I have officially been sick every day of this month, which is awesome:

Woke up with what I thought was a hangover on Nov. 1st which really turned out to be strep throat... got giant horse pills of amoxicillin that worked great until I took my last one on Friday morning, yes, Friday the 13th. I should have known this would not have gone well. Woke up two days later with what my doctor has diagnosed as a virus. Which means the z-pack I paid 44 bucks for had no affect and I had to sweat this one out (literally) on my own.

This second bout of illness came just in time for the last week of classes and final projects. And I thought the strep came at a bad time! I managed to get two projects done, now just one to go--an eight page paper. Doesn't sound like too much but the assignment is the hard part. I wanted to put this post up quick before I hide in Starbucks all day trying to write. I've spent WAY too much quality time in my apartment and in my bed this month.

It's a funny thing being sick and the bearer of bad germs. I noticed every time I went to talk to someone, they would take two steps back. And when I went to my professors this week in class to tell them I needed to leave early because I was sick, one of them literally gave me the Heisman, leaning back and pushing his open palms toward my face. The other also leaned back, but his eyes bulged out of his head by the time I was done speaking which was a result of--I am guessing--him trying to hold his breath as to not suck in any germs I might emit. They looked scared, both of them. It made me laugh a little but kind of annoyed. I am sick, not the walking plague! As if I feel bad enough physically already, you don't have to fall all over yourself to get out of my bubble or give me weird looks to make me feel like even worse. Jeez... as if I wanted to be there anyway.

This is surely NOT how I saw my first quarter of grad school ending to say the least. But thanks to my family and friends (and very patient editor!) who cared about me and called to make sure I was doing okay through all of this. The calls were very much appreciated and I apologize if I haven't called back or responded with a text.. I still can't talk that well because of my throat (at least I am well enough to eat something other than ramen!) I feel so bad for my roommates, especially Elli, who moved in November 1st and has probably gotten a few germs along with her first month's rent.

Thank you again to everyone, you made me feel loved and helped me during a really rough patch in which most days I felt like dying than dealing with a fever, body and head aches and not being able to swallow. I'm feeling better now and have hope that maybe by Thanksgiving I'll be able to eat something more than squash and mashed potatoes :)

Raising the White Flag

I played a flag football double header on Thursday night. My friend invited me and I went because I thought it would be fun to meet new people and get some exercise. It was my first physical activity other than walking to the El and back in two weeks thanks to the Strep Throat. The only other time I played flag football was when I worked at ESPN... unlike then I actually played on this team. I didn't get the ball at all, but running up and down the field was a good workout.

Fast forward two days, and I am still sore. God do my upper legs and quads hate me. I have been limping around like an invalid. This is pathetic!! My 90-year-old grandfather is in better shape than me.

As soon as I'm feeling more limber, I'm going to take a shot at that new yoga DVD I bought at Best Buy the other day. I am desperately hoping it helps me relax and sleep at night.

Ah well. Hope you had a good laugh. I try to sneak in a few chuckles when I'm not wincing. After all, if you can't laugh at yourself it's going to be a longggg ride. Right now, I'm too busy waving the white flag.

Penny for my thoughts, I'd be rich

You know those sayings... "penny for your thoughts" and "if I could only get inside your head"? Well, I would give someone 2,000 pennies (that's 20 bucks if you're bad at math... I used a calculator) in order to get inside my head and shut it off at night. Every night I lay in bed and as soon as the lights go out, my brains kicks into high gear and the wheels usually spin until about 4 a.m. on most nights/mornings. I'm beginning to think that I might be a vampire, because I can only seem to sleep during the day and do some of my most active, albeit strangest, thinking in the dark. The whole vampire point segues me into the "crazy things that keep me thinking instead of sleeping" list I have created to share with you. Ironically, this blog idea was one of them:

1. a. I really don't get the whole Twilight hysteria. I saw the movie, got it off Netflix and it was almost painful to watch. I was extremely disappointed in the quality. I'm not sure what I was expecting exactly, but the plot and storyline and acting is so weak and clearly targeted to the tween scene. Which is OK, but I honestly don't get why adults are also obsessed with the movie.
b. Second part of this, I don't get the craze over Robert Pattinson, who I fondly refer to as "the kid who doesn't wash his hair." The love story between him and Bella/Kristen Stewart is so platonic and their "true love" comes out of nowhere. They stare at each other most of the time and that, I guess, is the extent of the "intense" yet severely underdeveloped love affair. Their love story is an eighth of what Kate and Leo's was in Titanic or any other romantic comedy at that. Why are people SO obsessed with they getting together in real life? They're not cute together. OK, I'm done now. Sorry if I offended any of you Twilight lovers.

2. I spend a good chunk of the time cursing myself for the tasks I put off and didn't cross off my "to do" list. Then I rewrite the list in my head, sighing when it comes to thinking of a bill or transferring funds to my checking account.

3. Did I log out of my Gmail account on the school computer? If I didn't someone might read my email... Do I have anything important in my email that might incriminate me? I'm pretty sure I did log out and end the conversation with myself with a simple "oh well." It just spirals out of control.

4. Tomorrow I have to do laundry. I wonder if that sauce stain is going to come out now because I didn't do laundry again when I was supposed to...

5. I then craft blog posts in my head for about 20-25 minutes. And repeat and rehearse them when I think of something I like so I don't forget it when I wake up in the morning. The things I do for my dedicated readers ;)

6. Seriously, I should have taken a sleeping pill. And get angry with myself and with my brain, begging for it to just shut off so I can get some shut eye. Now I'm going to oversleep, wake up at 11 am, waste half the day and even with that I'm still barely getting enough sleep.

7. Does my bread have mold on it? I didn't put it in the fridge and it might start breeding mold overnight and then I'll need to go buy more and who has time for that...

8. I debate whether I put my house keys back in the little pocket in my purse. Then I actually get up and check if I can't remember.

Now I sound crazy. Half, if not all, of these thoughts seem like OCD behavior. I promise I'm normal during the day... it's like I said, as soon as the lights go out, my brain picks everything possible in order to keep me awake. It's a conspiracy. I think I just have so much to do and going on that I feel like I am wasting time sleeping when I could be doing other things.

Alright, almost 2 a.m. let's get this party started.

Extra! Extra! Chicago Cubs are Sold... Kim Dunbar has the story

While I'm not quite strep throat free, with two weeks left of school there is no more time to lounge around in bed succumbed to pesky throat germs. I spent this Saturday filming for and working on two different class projects. The first project brought me to Wrigley Field, where I created a news package about the Chicago Cubs being sold to the Ricketts family (that happened about a week ago, but I pretended it was breaking news).

The second project, which I am currently working on, is about WhirlyBall. What is WhirlyBall you may ask? Well, let me explain! It is a unique sport that combines multiple ones-- basically the premise is this: Teams of 5 vs 5 battle in bumper cars while carrying a lacrosse like scoop, tossing around a whiffle ball, trying to score in a basketball hoop contraption. It's quite amusing to watch and a blast to play (so I have heard). After filming it I can't wait to actually try it! The people who work there were SO nice and helpful to me when I was trying to plan the project. They want to upload the video to their website when I am done with it! Pressure is on to make it good.. only bummer is that it was pretty dark inside and the camera I had just wasn't sophisticated enough and I had no external lights to light up the area. Hopefully I can do something in post-production to amend it a little.

Below is the finished product on the Cubs piece. It took me about 10 minutes to get the tag right... I wrote too much to remember so I talked really fast to get through it. I'll for sure get comments about that with my grade... Enjoy!! I'll be sure to share the WhirlyBall one when it is done. It's due next Wednesday (my final Wednesday class already!!) so be sure to check back if you're interested. All feedback is welcome :)

Strep Throat Kim is a Cover Girl

Wow, that's a loaded title... And where is Jordan Knight when I finally need him? As at least my family knows (and now my editor because I made a bad joke when she told me I would have the November cover story back in August), I used to pretend that Jordan and the New Kids on the Block were singing "Cover Girl" about and to me when I was little. I would sit wrapped in my NKOTB comforter and sheets.. ok that part didn't happen, but I still love that song. And now I can't even hum it to myself as my glorious cover story has been released to the public.

As some of you know I've been down and out the last few days with strep throat. I've felt a lot better since my fever broke, but it's still real difficult to talk, let alone belt the lyrics of a cheesy boy band song. These 875 mg horse pills of amoxicillin are really working their magic best they can. As soon as I have the energy I intend on writing a post on how crappy America's health insurance is, even though everyone knows that already. Right after I have a date with the hairbrush and a mirror.

I wanted to share with you this Pulse magazine article, my cover story on Worcester boxer Edwin Rodriguez. He's such an awesome person to talk with. We had a long interview on the phone and someday when I'm back in Worcester I hope to meet him in person. Anyway, here it is.. it's a little long (it is a cover story after all!) but I'm so proud of it: The Real Edwin Rodriguez.

Ok it's time for a nap. I'm trying to make a mark in my to-do list best I can, because school is winding down and this weekend was slated to film some media projects, not to mention my professor of my Monday class decided to have us do a complete package in a week, the week I happen to get strep. So I'm a little stressed, but need to focus on getting better. My packages are going to come out so crappy because I can barely speak. Washington had Deep Throat, Chicago has Strep Throat... Kim that is.

The Education of a Lifetime

For one of my classes we had to hand in a variety of writing assignments earlier in the quarter. Below is the "profile piece" assignment I did on my friend Megan Weeks. Sometimes when you get an assignment back with writing all over it, it's filled with corrections; mine was filled with her comments on how much she loved certain parts. I got A+ and my professor wrote that it was the best in the class. I thought I would share:

The Education of a Lifetime
By Kim Dunbar

Megan Weeks is praying it doesn’t rain. The cloudy skies seem ominous, but as she does every day on the way to work, she is hoping for the best.

Weeks is a tenth grade English teacher at South High Community School in Worcester, Massachusetts. South is an underfunded, inner-city high school in which Hispanics and African-Americans make up 57.4 percent of the student population. “It’s a crazy, unique place,” said Weeks. “We have no walls, no supplies, a leaking roof with garbage cans to catch the run off, but a whole lot of love.”

Weeks is hoping it doesn’t rain because the garbage cans and leaking water are added distractions she can’t spare for the sake of her students. It is hard enough to teach over the voices of her colleagues adjacent to her “classroom,” which looks more like an oversized office cubicle than a traditional classroom. “I honestly cannot imagine what it would be like to be able to ‘close my door’ and just teach,” she said.

Weeks began teaching at South High upon graduating from Clark University. Her experiences as an undergraduate are what influenced her future profession. “I decided to become a teacher after taking an Urban Schooling class. I knew I loved English and knew I wanted to help kids so it all came together for me after that class,” she said.

Weeks’s favorite part of her job is “being able to relate to the kids and just be myself,” she said. “I feel a true sense of accomplishment when my students are able to follow their dreams or even figure what their dreams are,” she added. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Weeks to do her job and enjoy it, as budget cuts and low test scores continue to plague the school.

The economic recession is affecting schools across the country, but it is magnified in schools like South, which was having a hard time before budget cuts became a regular event. For example, this year Weeks is allotted two reams of paper a month for a class load of 100 students, and because the school often cannot afford to purchase books for the students to use, Weeks finds herself purchasing collections with her own money.

For the last two years, South—which garners a two out of ten rating from GreatSchools when it comes to student test scores in Massachusetts high schools—has been pushing for its students to do better on standardized tests with the SWIFT initiative. SWIFT stands for “Strategic Writers In Focused Thought,” and is built around the core concept which Weeks summarizes, “if we get our kids to be strategic writers across disciplines they will have a better chance in succeeding in school.” She added that the idea is for the school to have many writing requirements, such as common assessments that each grade level has to complete on a monthly basis.

“Our students don't measure up compared to a student elsewhere in the state,” said Weeks. “I get my students reading at a sixth grade level as they start the tenth grade. To me, I have performed a miracle if I can find one book they actually read or one project they would love to do. Unfortunately, that is not how the state of Massachusetts measures success,” Weeks lamented.

In fact, Weeks said the lack of parental involvement and overall student apathy has been the biggest challenge of her career thus far. “Half of my job is just getting them to care,” she said. “Since many of these students have never seen family members achieve higher education or move out of the city, they don't know why it is so important to have an education. If the parents checked homework, asked questions, and reached out, these kids would really succeed,” added Weeks.

Something else Weeks thinks would help her students is an equal budget. “We do everything we can for these kids. If they received the same budget as the suburban kids I know we could do anything,” she said. “If this is truly the land of the free, then all Americans should be free to receive a high quality education. Learning is not just for the rich.”

In her five years at the school, Weeks has had many ups and downs. Both her laptop and her cell phone were stolen on separate occasions and she has suffered several bruises from breaking up girl fights in the hallways. But she refuses to leave her students for greener pastures at a better school. “The students at the ‘better’ schools don't need the help the way these kids do,” she said. “As long as I have the energy I will be in the inner city doing what I can to make a difference. I love what I do and I love to see these kids succeed,” she added.

Success according to Megan Weeks is different than another teacher’s definition of the same word. Several of Weeks’s students have matriculated to top colleges, including Holy Cross and Columbia, but those students aren’t considered her greatest accomplishments. “I am most proud of the students that push themselves so hard just to make it to state college,” she explained. “The smiles on their faces and the sincere 'thank you' I receive mean almost more than my first student going to an Ivy League college.”

If Weeks has learned anything during her teaching tenure, she has learned patience and the ability to understand that learning happens very slowly and to accept that change does not happen overnight. “You have to keep at it, even when it seems like you will not succeed,” she said.

But Weeks knows all too well that while learning can’t change overnight, the weather certainly can. But like all the other challenges she has overcome as an inner city teacher, Weeks has learned to deal with the rainy days, garbage cans and all.

Karaoke Video Project

Here is my video project I did on karaoke for my Backpack Reporting class (be warned.. this video contains some bad singing!). I'll be getting my grade on Wednesday, but I think it's an A+ :)