REPORTER BLOG: No 6:00 AM Snooze Button

Sara Shookman
ss237405@ohio.edu

My alarm rang at 6:40 a.m. this morning. Snooze was not an option. It was time to get up.

"Why so early?" screamed my cold toes as they hit the floor, outside of the warm bed.

Time for basketball practice.

The Student Athlete
Of course I'm complaining. Because at 7 a.m. this morning, I wasn't running or dribbling or working on my jump shot. And I hadn't already sat through a half-hour of game films.

I was just holding the camera. I was there for 20 minutes tops. And no offense to the lady Bobcats, but I probably won't be back anytime soon.

But everyday those college athletes wake up at 6 a.m. to get to practice on time. Then they go to class just like the rest of the full-time students here on campus. They are expected to perform -- in the classroom and on the court. No one cuts them a break.

I was never talented in the sports arena, so I can't imagine the dedication the college athlete must have for his or her sport not to hit the snooze at 6 a.m.

For many Ohio University athletes, no matter how hard they practice, their sporting careers will end in Athens. How do those students split their lives between their academic mission and their love of the game?

These student-slash-athletes are accountable to their coaches, their professors and their performance. They spend hours each day in training. They spend weeks each season on the road. How do they balance it all?

The Student Journalist
I stood on the sidelines of this morning's practice and thought about all of this. And just when I started to feel inadequate with my own accomplishments, I remembered.
I don't go to practice each day, but I do spend a lot of time with that camera. At sporting events. At parades. At news conferences. At city council meetings.

Sometimes I'm the one at work while others are enjoying themselves. Sometimes I'm the one charged with asking the tough questions that no one wants to hear out loud.

So is the life of the student slash. Student/Journalist. Student/Mother. Student/Father. Student/Part-time Waitress. Student/Athlete.

None of us has it easy -- well maybe a few stereotypical Animal House characters. But most students are working hard at their studies and their lives outside.

So students, enjoy your holiday breaks. Whether you spend them on the court or on the couch, it's time well-deserved.

REPORTER BLOG: College is the place to learn to live

Sara Shookman
ss237405@ohio.edu

Council member Nancy Bain struck a chord with me at last week's Athens City Council meeting. Because this is a college town, the solution to many problems is education.

Education. That's why the Council developed the landlord tenant agreement that has bogged down the last few weeks of City Council action.

Young adults move on from high school and come to places like Ohio University where they hope (or maybe their parents hope) to grow up and graduate in four or five years. It's accepted as a transitional time in a person's life. A time and place for mistakes made and lessons learned.

Learning to Life
But a lot of that learning seems to interfere with the lives of other college town residents.

Our Athens neighbors who have already passed through their college transition really don't want to deal with ours. Rightfully so. Many college students are rude, dirty neighbors. So Athens has city codes - like most cities - to prevent the abuse of students' bad habits.

These codes were more than words to the council members and city representatives that created them. But to students, they might be just more laws to break. So the solution? Education.

The Landlord Tenant Agreement
Council President Bill Bias said Monday that the forms were designed to educate residents so neighbors could rest assured that college students were aware of the code.

So the form was designed and passed along to landlords so they could be charged with educating their tenants about city rules. For whatever reason, lots of landlords did not comply - 334 to be exact, says Athens City Law Director Pat Lang.

Lang defended the position that the non-compliance was a sign the form was inadequate.

And if the city's action in the realm of code enforcement is any indication, it might be. Education hasn't been the simple solution to mounting problems with garbage. Instead the city has hired a Solid Waste Code enforcement officer, better known to students as the trash man.

Taking out the Trash 101
Now students who live in off-campus housing scattered about Athens wake up Sunday mornings to trash tickets and warnings on their front doors. No garbage in the front of the house, no beer cans in the yard. Clean it up.

And the city agreed Monday to begin filing almost 500 misdemeanor charges against those 300 plus landlords without the proper paperwork.

Time for some simple Athens city arithmatic:

Mad Athens Residents = Landlord Tenant Agreement
LTA No Compliance = Increasingly Mad Athens Residents
Increasingly Mad Athens Residents = Trash Man + 500 Criminal Charges

Now the city will collect fines from trashed houses and delinquent landlords, which equals double jeopardy.

Back to the Lesson
So what have we learned?

Living next door to college students isn't easy. Living next door to students in a college town is a fact of life.

Is the problem education? Maybe.

Is the problem inherent with immature young adult behavior? More likely.

I agree with Councilman Elahu Gosney, who said Monday, “I think that (the forms) are minimally effective if at all."

Whether a tenant signs off on the rules or not, they may not follow them. And it might be time for a solution that starts there -- at the root of the problem.

Links to previous Athens MidDay coverage on this topic:

Update: Fixing the Form or Pressing Charges

REPORTER BLOG: Vote Smart

Sara Shookman
ss237405@ohio.edu

Voting is a civic duty. It's a privilege. For millions of Americans in our past, the right to vote was life or death.

But voting is also just plain hard.

The candidates, the issues, the ballot items. It's a lot to think about. That's why I was so impressed by the senior government students at Alexander High School.

The Lessons
My first chance to vote in November 2004 was also a presidential election. Nothing makes voting more exciting than the national scale of the presidential race. I tried hard to free myself of any bias to make the right decision for myself. But it really wasn't that easy.

The pressures of television campaign ads were calling out to me, the uninformed voter. "Vote No!" "Vote Yes!" How do you know whom to believe? There were things I read and heard that seemed contradictory. There were issues I thought I understood and loopholes I knew I didn't.

I wish I had had what the AHS students did: a place to listen and learn.

The Leanings
Government teacher Joel Laufman said it's difficult to teach a class without revealing his own partisanship. "I try to play devil's advocate," he said.

But his students have asked him day in and day out what party he'll support on Tuesday. Why? Because even through all the dialogue and debate, they still can't tell.

It's usually not so fair at home. Many families have a political tradition of sorts that can be hard to stand up against. When Senior Lauren Raines said the issues can get heated at her house, I was in awe of her conviction.

After my own exploration of the political process, I was an apple that didn't fall far from the tree. I did the research. I know how I personally feel. But often my feelings are similar to those rampant in my family.

For Raines to know at 17 that she feels differently is democracy at work.

The Local Races
If you missed the opportunity to be an educated voter in the past, you still have time for the 2008 Election. Most people have an idea of whom they will support for president, but statewide issues and local candidates get little widespread attention.

The Athens County League of Women Voters has complied a 2008 Voter Guide to local candidates and ballot items.

REPORTER BLOG: Heart of the Game--Hometown Rivalries

Sara Shookman
ss237405@ohio.edu


Getting ready for the big game is quite a task for most teams. Practice, pep talks and spirited rallies all help players build their confidence. But there is one game where getting ready goes beyond all that – a hometown rivalry.

Preparing for a rival game starts before tryouts. It’s the effort of a community. That’s what I saw when I covered the volleyball game where Nelsonville-York beat Trimble.

It All Begins
High school rivalries aren’t born overnight. Rivalries can develop in different ways. In this case, Nelsonville-York and Trimble are county seats, separated by just a hill.


Nelsonville-York Coach Courtney Porter talks about the rivalry.

The weight of game inspires the players and riles up the fans. On Monday, the Buckeyes’ student cheering zone never took their seats, while Tomcat fans maintained a steady beat, “Let’s go ‘Cats!” I love to see the crowd get into a game. Win or lose, it’s a great opportunity to see school pride.

Throughout the game, my eyes kept landing on the “Buckeye Pride” signs lining the walls. All that hometown spirit was spreading to the court where neither team was quick to give up.

Coach Versus Players
The Trimble Tomcats had a slow start to this season, but still have a chance to win their league title. Nelsonville-York has been stuck in a tough slump. Both teams have already been placed in their tournament seats, ready to go in post-season play.

Although the Trimble Nelsonville-York matchup is not a league game, it was one very important to the players.

Buckeye Coach Courtney Porter must not be a N-Y native, because she says she just doesn’t get it. “This is practice for me, for tournaments,” Porter said. Porter said the matchup was in no way a must-win game.

Meanwhile for Trimble Coach Chris Downs, the game was simply an opportunity to turn up the heat.


Trimble Coach Chris Downs says he's thinking about the future.

Downs says although his girls lost, he thinks it will help inspire them to keep their heads up as tournaments begin.

What It Takes To Win
I was never a great athlete. But after many years of sitting the bench, I did learn one thing. It's all about wanting it.

Determination is hard to hold on to, especially when a rocky season is coming to a close. But what I saw in the Buckeyes yesterday was a desire to win.

When I asked senior Chelsie McLaughlin how the team pulled together, "It's all we really wanted," she said. No pep talk can build confidence like that.


The Bucks score the winning point.