Observations & Inspirations

I sat for hours today trying to make sense of what happened to two fellow journalists while on live television. It’s been difficult. I was looking up background information on the shooter on his twitter page when all of a sudden he started live-tweeting. I screamed Oh my God as the shooter pointed his gun and fired on three unsuspecting people.

My heart sank. I felt sick. I was at a loss. No words.

I didn’t personally know Alison and Adam but I can relate to the vulnerability of standing there and not knowing what to expect when someone walks up during a live shot. It’s been said journalists shouldn’t be scared because the victims knew their shooter. Is that supposed to make it better? We all have former colleagues who’ve left a company, some on bad terms. This man waited two years to act. The victims had no idea what was going to happen and that today would be their final day on air. I know in this business we have to force ourselves to appear solid, strong and tough in devastating situations. But today hit so close to home. I think it’s appropriate to show a little empathy at a time like this. They were journalists who showed up to work to do their job but it ended in absolute tragedy. We are all entitled to an opinion but I don’t think it’s fair to say journalists should basically tuck their tails and get back to work. The television news business is such a small world and what happened today could’ve happened to any one of us.

RIP Alison and Adam.

JULY 17 - DR. MAE JEMISON

In September 1992, Dr. Mae C. Jemison became the first woman of color to travel in space. She logged over 190 hours aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavor, where she conducted experiments on weightlessness and motion sickness for NASA’s mission STS-47.

Jemison had assumed she would travel in space since her childhood days in Chicago, watching African-American actress Nichelle Nichols’ portray Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek. Though she showed an early love for scientific experimentation, she also dreamed of becoming a professional dancer. When it came time to choose, her mother helped sway her decision by telling her, “You can always dance if you’re a doctor, but you can’t doctor if you’re a dancer.”

At 16 years old, Jemison enrolled at Stanford University to study chemical engineering. She would describe the overall experience as “wonderful and very positive”, but as one of the only Black students in her classes, she encountered some difficulty along the way.

“Some professors would just pretend I wasn’t there,” she recalled. “I would ask a question and a professor would act as if it was just so dumb, the dumbest question he had ever heard. Then, when a white guy would ask the same question, the professor would say, ‘That’s a very astute observation.'”

Jemison moved on to receive a medical degree from Cornell University, and from 1983 to 1985, she served as a Peace Corps Medical Officer treating volunteers in Liberia and Sierra Leone. After Sally Ride broke down boundaries as the first American woman in space, Jemison decided to apply to NASA and pursue her childhood dream. She was accepted to the program in 1987.

-Rick Scott is governor again. You don’t remember how or when it happened. I didn’t vote for him. You didn’t vote for him. I didn’t vote for him. You didn’t vote for him. Your eyes are bleeding and your children have gone missing.

-The Heavens open up, flooding the world below. “Why didn’t you bring an umbrella?” they ask. “It’s going to be a beautiful afternoon,” you murmur, framed by the flash of a nearby lightning strike.

-The Snowbirds have come, escaping the bitter cold. Once again you swerve to avoid hitting the car of an aging soul. Perhaps you, too, have come to escape the bitter cold.

-John Morgan appears on the side of the road. He’s in your car. He’s in your living room. “For the people,” you whisper over and over, pressing your eyes shut.

Happy birthday Latrice! 

"Not everyone is okay with living like an open wound. But the thing about open wounds is that, well, you aren’t ignoring it, you’re healing. The fresh air can get to it. It’s honest. You aren’t hiding who you are. You aren’t rotting. People can give you advice on how to heal without scarring badly."