:D

I’m pleased to inform the public that the Relay for Life event I attended was a huge success!

The SUNY New Paltz Relay for Life team raised $24,000.  I think that’s incredible, and I’m so happy that I helped contribute to such a wonderful cause.

It’s also funny to think that these are my last few weeks at college.  I’ll miss it, but I’ve been so eager to move on for the past few months.  On to bigger and better things.  I’m strong and I can do it.

Out of the Darkness PSA!

As promised and this time on time, here is my club, the Communication and Media Society’s final cut of our PSA for the Bring Suicide Out of the Darkness club.  Which I’m on the e-board for as the Advertising Chair.  Love how this came out.  Make it viral!

Relay for Life PSA

 

I forgot to post this!  This PSA for our school’s Relay for Life was made by my club the Communication and Media Society.  So proud of how it came out!  I was reminded to post this because we filmed our second PSA for the Bring Suicide Out of the Darkness Club today (which I’m an e-board member of as well).  That will be up sometime within the next few days.  Take a look!

Covering Police Activity

So tonight something interesting happened in this little college town.  I was scrolling through my Facebook news feed and what do you know pops up?

Someone posted about heavy police activity in town.

Their post read as:

“On my way to the deli in town, I saw 4 police cars, 2 fire trucks, and the trailways on Main street. I think someone got hit!! :O:”

This was posted just around midnight.  And I had seen it about 25 minutes after it was posted.  So I decided to check Twitter and there were two tweets about it.

The most interesting Tweet was:

“What is happening in New Paltz? Helicopters, 7 police cars, and ambulance and a women screaming outside the middle school. WHAT’S GOING ON?”

So I decided to go into town to investigate.  While I was putting on clothes (I was in pajamas at this time) I could hear a helicopter outside, to me that was a confirmation.

It took me about 15 minutes to walk into town.  When I got to the area by the aforementioned Middle School and the Deli (Convenient Deli) it was bone quiet.  Nothing was stirring.  No police activity.  Convenient is 24 hours, so I went inside and asked the cashier if he had seen or heard anything.  He said someone either got hit by a bus or had a heart attack on it.  Either way they were airlifted to a hospital.  He also gave me the interesting fact that a drug sniffing dog was brought in.

Luckily, I had bumped into my roommate in the deli, who dropped me off back to the dorm.  I proceeded to call the bus company but they shut they closed at midnight.  I then called the town police.  I explained what I heard about the activity and the officer on the end of the line, clearly annoyed and angered said, “We don’t give out that kind of information on the phone.”  I didn’t want to deal with an irate officer so I hung up without pressing any further.  You can bend my back but not break it.

So now what do I do?  I’ve written down my timeline of events and what I know.  I have to go to the bus station tomorrow anyway to take a bus home for the weekend and I plan on doing some more snooping.

What more could I have done?

Lions, and Bears, and …Internships? Oh my!

So I am at the threshold!  I am more than halfway through my last semester at SUNY New Paltz taking classes.  My next semester, Fall 2012, will be comping my internship for credit.  I need 15 credits to graduate!  And that’s where the internship comes in.

So the past week I’ve been applying to places, and the outlook is great so far!  I feel like all my hard work is paying off.  The amount of stress I’ve been through will be well worth it in the end.

So excited to be moving forward in the next chapter of my life.

Three New Publications Up!

I have three new publications posted on my 2012 page!  Check them out!  It’s been a hectic semester but I’m proud of all the working I’ve done (and am doing!)  The work never seems to stop but I’m always looking forward what’s next and what’s new.

There is nothing more exciting than a new day for me, new stories to cover, new people to meet, and new opportunities to prove myself as a dedicated and passionate writer.

 

Check them out!!

I miss taking pictures

I’m going to have to freshen up my camera skills.  I miss going out and taking photos.  Now that the weather is warming up it’s about time to get back outside.

I will definitely post them to my flickr, and if possible link my flickr to here.  I should look into that.

 

Wrote this last semester

I had to write a tragedy article for a class last semester, so I chose my dad.   Obviously I can’t publish it but I thought it would be nice to share.

Enjoy!

________

by Laura Cerrone

Angelo Cerrone does not like to remember his near-death experience 35 years ago. So much so, his wife barely knew it even happened.

In 1976, Cerrone was 22 years old, working for the aviation service company Allied at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Jamaica, Queens. He was assigned to troubleshoot a company bus that would not turn on. Cerrone recalls the only other person was the bus driver, one with no knowledge on fixing a vehicle.

“I troubleshooted the vehicle and it still wouldn’t start, the battery was okay, so I knew the problem was elsewhere.” said Cerrone.

He proceeded to inspect the undercarriage of the vehicle. He had instructed the driver to stay in the driver’s seat with the bus in park and his foot on the brake. Cerrone remembers the moment the bus turned on – and suddenly it began to move, dragging him underneath as the driver pulled away.

“It was a burning pain. It was like a hot rash. Like I was set on fire.”

Cerrone gripped onto the bus’ chassis. “If I were to let go I would’ve been run over.”

He was dragged almost 20 feet before his screams were heard by the driver. In a matter of minutes an ambulance arrived and took the young man to Peninsula General Hospital.

For Cerrone this could have been the end to his life, or the end to his dreams working in the airline industry. As a young boy, Cerrone grew up in post-World War II rural Italy. He lived on a farm where he shared a room with four other siblings, and used an outhouse. When his father brought him home a broken bike, Cerrone fixed it. When he moved to the United States at 13, he saw opportunity all around him, the biggest of all was working for the airline industry, because to him there was nothing more powerful and magnificent than an airplane.

Cerrone had sustained lacerations running up and down his back, internally he was miraculously unscathed.

While physically he healed with a few days in the hospital and several weeks off work, he wasn’t emotionally ready to take on his job again.

Cerrone turned to a friend of his mothers named Marisa Schiavello, Schiavello specializes in spiritual prayer healing. While Cerrone attended his regular doctor check-ups to check for possible infection he also sought sessions with Schiavello. Schiavello and Cerrone’s mother would swaddle him in bandages and then pray to God for him to heal.

“Emotionally it helped, made me feel that God was on my side because I wasn’t killed.”

Cerrone now lives in a house he worked years to build with a wife and three kids, a cat, and two bunnies. He still works for the airline industry at American Airlines where he gets to watch airplanes take off and land, still fascinating his inner-childlike awe.

Cerrone reflects on everything he has now and imagines it could of all been very different.

“The scariest thing about this ordeal is that I thought it was the end of my life.”