Share This With All Your Friends

Reading is never fun as a hobby, but it is important for a good grade. When I pick up a book for class, there is a pivotal point in the beginning of the reading. If it is boring and I cannot relate to it, I might as well return the book because there is no way I will be able to read the whole thing. On the other hand, if it it is interesting and it resonates with me in some fashion, then I might not be able to put the book down. The book in class that we are reading is the book, "Share This" which is a handbook for public relations and social media. The books first chapter talked about how PR and media are changing due to the social media realm and how its impact is affecting the overall job market. The effects of social media, as from my other posts, are so large it is unbelievable. A simple tweet, something with 140 characters or less, could transcend something like an entire industry. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, the list goes on. All of these social media outlets are all ways for us to create, maintain and continue relationships with people. Sharing memories, moments, achievements, or just information is the way of the world now and according the book, that is the way it should be. I agree with the book, because when we share moments and network with one another, that is making the world a better and more efficient place. Social media was the only way I could stay in contact with my parents, family and friends while I was gone all summer in California. When my dad found out I was going away, he gave me the old "Well back in my day.." spiel and how fortunate I was to be able to use the resources in my time. "Share This" is a book that catches my interest and can be related to our everyday lives because most of us have some sort of social media. In this article, the data given says 67 percent of people between 18-29 have social media as of 2013. That number has probably drastically increased due to the rise of Snapchat, YikYak and Twitter. We as a generation and people will find out news through social media before we can get home to see it on TV or in the newspaper the next morning. 

Where Can I Find Hope?

This week, I have found out I may be Irish, but luck is certainly not on my side. I have always prided myself on my ability to look past adversity and see the greener side of the grass, but this week the grass looked brown and dead. The beginning of the week started simple. Baseball scrimmages were getting close to being done and I wasn't doing that bad but I still had some stuff to prove before the offseason. My grades were all about average and with some questionable grades, I knew I had to turn it around this past week. Then on Sunday night, shit hit the fan. My ex-girlfriend calls me and tells me that Jon had killed himself at the soccer field and I was up all night having phone calls and information being relayed. The next few days, I tried to appreciate the little things in life just a little more because of what had happened. Then, Wednesday rolls around and it's time for flag football. I go to our flag football game and in a matter of 10 minutes of play, I make an awkward spin on the sideline and twist my knee. As I laid there on the turf and looked up at the sky, I honestly thought, "Jon you can see everything." I have always feared the day since I was a little kid that I would tear my ACL. Having bad knees, I figured it would happen one day, but because I have never sat a game out due to injury in my ENITRE career, I couldn't believe that it was actually happening to me. How would I recover? Would I get to play again? What would life be like? So after the game was over and tears subsided, I would stay at home the next 2 days and be cooped up in my house the whole time. Then, after I had some time to reflect on my injury and how to combat it, I come to ONU for the homecoming game. As I am in the middle of a big play being recorded on snapchat, my phone dies and I can't live tweet the game. A little kid hit my knee at the game and I almost cried (I know, what a girl). And to put the cherry on top, my Steelers played on Sunday and Ben Roethlisberger tears his MCL and will be out 4-6 weeks. So after this shitty weekend, you have to wonder, "Casey, are you just trying to make me feel bad"? The answer is no, but I want to share that no matter how bad your day is, or your week is, or etc., the sun will come up tomorrow and the world will go on without you. The world is going on without Jon and I hate to say that, but it is true. So I have the thought, what would the world care if I was gone? In a span of seven days, I managed to loose one of my friends, tear my ACL and have my grades suffer a significant dent. All of this adversity that has reached a new magnitude seems all too much for me, but the only way to find out is to live through it. A quote I came across after hurting my knee really gave me some inspiration. It comes from the bible in Romans 8:18, "The pain you are feeling now cannot compare to the joy that will come." I contemplated just giving up because it seemed so bleak, but when I thought about that quote, I don't want to miss the joys that await me in the future. This post may not be in AP style or appropriate for class, but this post is coming 100 percent from my heart and soul and it is a way for my to vent my feelings and thoughts. That is what I feel what blogging is meant for. To let people voice their opinions, feelings and thoughts and whoever wants to weigh in on the post or share their feelings is free to do so. After this awful week, I can only pray that a good one in store for me soon. 

Social Media Bringing Out the Best

                               
This week in my community back home has been a tough one. In the early hours of the evening last Sunday, a young man named Jon Andrews decided to take his own life. Jon was a senior at my alma mater and was 1 of the 4 captains on the soccer team. He was a young man who knew nothing but how to make everyone else feel good. In the short time after people found out about his suicide, social media and other media outlets were buzzing. The way the people in the area, and even other schools, showed support for each other and Jon's loved ones was unremarkable. If only Jon could see how many lives he touched. Social media brought out the best in the people that Jon touched and for a good cause. His love, memory and life were all shown through multiple posts on multiple channels. I remember the first time I ever met Jon, he was doing what he did best. Make people laugh. He was a bright young man and a hell of an athlete. I still can't believe I am talking about this in past tense. "He was" is such a hard concept to grasp for not only myself and the community, but his family. His older sister, in the picture above, and his brother and his parents. All of them are going through a pain I can't even comprehend. In the scheme of things, this post is to show that social media really did make this coping process a little easier and it helped celebrate the life of Jon with all of the goofy pictures of him and the funny videos taken of him doing his signature dance. The social media aspect also helped spread the awareness of teen suicide, depression and most importantly, the strength of Shawnee and its community suffering from this tragedy.