Join Bode....By Not Joining Bode

I'm sticking up for Bode: there, I said it.

By being talented, innovative, independent and--most of all--stubborn, Bode Miller shows us what it's truly like to be American.

For those who aren't aware, Miller won the skiing World Cup overall title last week, as he did in 2005, and has arguably been the most prominent athlete in his sport for the last several years. But for all his accolades, he has been criticized for his seemingly lackadaisical attitude during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

Last year, Miller broke away from the U.S. ski team to form his own, a one-man endeavor called "Team America." According to reports, there were tensions on both sides: Miller's actions off the slopes and his desire to have his own road accommodations clashed with the team mentality, while Miller felt he wasn't getting the proper diet and regimen for a professional skier. (http://www.denverpost.com/outdoors/ci_7566271)

Miller did what he thought was best for himself as an athlete, and once again he reigns over his sport. Love it or leave it, he is someone that all Americans can look up to for inspiration and guidance.

Let me explain.

Sure, he may have publicly downplayed the importance of the games and failed to win a medal. And people read about his antics and assume he is a reckless party animal. But here are some reasons why Miller can be seen as a role model for the American citizen:

1.) Bode is talented, and he backs his skills with a solid commitment to his sport. Like any productive American, he has identified his skill set and honed it to the best of his ability.

2.) Bode is innovative, to an extent. Realizing he needed a better way to condition himself and perform to the best of his abilities, he creates his own team and surrounds himself with the people and possessions that will achieve these means. He did not seem afraid to take a chance by cutting ties with the national team, and so far it looks as if he made the right decision.

3.) Bode is an independent spirit, but not completely independent. He understands that in order to perform his best, he needs to take his own steps instead of waiting for others to do the work for him. That said, he is smart enough to surround himself with a coaching staff that is committed to his success.

And, lastly...

4.) Bode is stubborn, possibly to a fault. But again, he is this year's World Cup champion: so far, so good. There are a few ways to be stubborn: instead of simply shrugging off his former team and driving himself from slope to slope, he assessed his situation and made calculated decisions that have worked out well to this point.

The next time you wish to improve your situation, don't wait for others to pick up the slack for you. Be assertive, like our Founding Fathers, our creative minds, our civil rights activists and Bode. Be independent. March to your own beat. Who cares if others are jealous of your success? As long as you are happy, for all you care, America is happy.

Check out this NY Times piece by Christopher Clarey: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/sports/othersports/16miller.html?ref=sports. He writes much better than I do, and he apparently has more time to do actual interviews.

The link above is from a Denver Post article by John Meyer.

Where I've Been, and Where I'm Going

The simple answers here are "work," and "bed."

Well, it feels like weeks since I've posted, but I want to get into the habit for the sake of a possible writing career. Here's a recap of the last few months, in bullet-point form:

• Finished semester 1 at Quinnipiac (4.0 of course, due to my inner nerd)
• Became single again (which explains the extra blogging time I now have)
• Started semester 2 at Quinnipiac

Oh, and I am now transmitting from my new HP desktop, powered by Vista, so that's cool I guess. Vista is like the shiftless opportunist that dresses very similar to Macintosh's Leopard and steals his ideas. I use a series of desktop widgets on the right side of my screen, but they constantly tell me that it is cold and my Naugatuck Valley S&L stock is underachieving.

Speaking of underachieving, this blog will receive some more attention, but I don't have the energy to generate any considerable traffic here.

But wait there's more: I finally posted an article, made with my own two hands. The previous post is an assignment for one of my graduate classes: it falls under the "microcosm profile" category, meaning it explains a larger trend through the experiences of an individual. The individual here is Max, and he makes beer. Good beer, too.

Keeping the skills fresh/CT State Police

It's almost November, near the end of the semester, and life seems to be moving pretty quick. In the next month, I have to complete an in-depth article on something related to Cheshire, obtain some detailed election information from the town and try to find some paying media gigs (other than the lighting business). All this while trying to elude the local 5-0.

Cheshire has been a pain this week: for starters, my potential article on a Cheshire cafe fell through because the business owner I tried to interview flaked out at the last minute. Then, my efforts to obtain detailed voting records (see: PUBLIC INFORMATION) were derailed by an angry town official. Her words: "I'm not going to accommodate any personal requests."

This is a bold statement, considering she is a servant of the public and is obliged to give me that information. I know she probably has a right to be ornery because Election Day is coming up soon, but this woman was everything a public servant shouldn't be.

Shucks. Call me old-fashioned.

ATTENTION ALL DRIVERS ON CT ROUTE 8 NEAR TORRINGTON. There are cops on the prowl for excessive speeding, and they apparently have something to prove.

I was approaching the city at a pace slightly over 80 miles per hour when I saw a car on the shoulder with its lights off. As I expected, it was a Connecticut State Police Officer, and he closed in on me pretty fast.

He clearly wasn't happy to see me when he approached my car. He must have been in his mid-twenties, around my age, and he must have thought he pulled over Pablo Escobar because of the questions he had for me.

After spending a few minutes drilling me with questions such as, "Do you have any alcohol in the car," and "do you have any guns," and "do you have any marijuana," and "do you have any knives?" He asked twice if I had knives, and I couldn't tell you why he did.

(For anyone who knows me, I am a timid, law-abiding white guy. I am a cat person and I enjoy a cup of green tea when I relax. I couldn't pose a threat to schoolchildren, even if I HAD weapons in my possession)

So he wrote me up for going 80, though he said he clocked me at 82: he said he wanted to save me a few dollars. Gee, thank you officer. A $254 ticket is so much better than anything else you could have thrown at me.

So in the end, I got verbally assaulted by some punk cop who handed me an excessive financial penalty for driving fast on an empty stretch of highway, a minor infraction at best and hardly failing of any moral code.

Let me show my gratitude to the Connecticut State Police: thank you for keeping reckless criminals like me in check, and ask me for suggestions as to where you should shove any future infractions.

Hey

Hey.

This blog will likely contain original reporting and observations on journalism, real life and my own life. However, don't think that this particular corner of the web is dedicated solely to the common good or the goal of enlightening the public with informative, ethical journalism. Those certainly are my goals, but here's the most important thing to remember (and I'm being completely honest):

I made this blog for myself.

I'll be more than happy if anyone reads this, but this is mainly a vehicle for my fledgling career. As long as I'm temporarily out of print (or as long as local weeklies decline to answer my offers to give them free articles), I'll serve as my own editor and publisher. It's free, and it strokes my ego in the most sensual way.

One of my main focuses here will be the realm of online media. Not so much the hey-let's-put-our-print-articles-online-for-free online media, but other things that are much more innovative. If anyone in or outside of journalism has any thoughts whatsoever on the matter, please post a comment: perhaps I'll look into it and develop a few posts from any related ideas.

I strongly believe in three things: one, that someone (hopefully me) will pioneer a new way to distribute news in the near-future involving the internet; that traditional journalists have nearly ruined any feasible chance of charging for their intellectual property by offering articles online for free; and that the next wave of online journalism needs to rely on a solid business model that will make the industry more profitable so it can avoid burning out its talent through current newsroom cuts.

Well, that's my two cents so far. I hope, for the sake of my journalistic aspirations and any readership I may gather here, that many, many quality posts will follow tonight's initial address.

And I'll post some pictures of my new auto when I get the chance.