This is Why I Write

          I'll admit, most of the time I hate writing. Actually, I don't hate writing; I despise it. I'll be sitting there, trying to think of the next line to put down on paper, thinking to myself, "Why do I keep putting myself through this, accepting stories that I know in the end I want nothing to do with?" I diligently type up what needs to be typed, send it off to whoever it needs to be sent off to, and congratulate myself on a battle won.

          And then there's those times, like now, when I am so proud of my work that I want the whole world to know. Most of the time being published doesn't really excite me. But when it's things I care about, moments that I know I was incredibly lucky to have, and pieces that I genuinely can't wait to write, I get this rush that's empowering and rejuvenating and makes me feel like the world is my oyster. (Sorry for that lame, totally cliche saying, but that's exactly how it is.) When I see pieces that I stayed up all night working on taking up almost an entire Colorado Kids, I know exactly why I put myself through the stress of writing about little things that have no revelance to me personally.

          I do it because, as with most things in life, there's always a price for the things we love. In order to get big time interviews and the freedom to write about things that really matter, I must do the things I don't want to do. All of the boring stories make me all the more thankful for the interesting ones.

          P.S. Congrats to Meghan Sharma for 4 stories published in one edition! Great work!!

Happy 4th!

          I was sitting in church today and it really hit me that here in America, we have so many freedoms and privileges that are taken for granted every single day. Just the mere fact that I could be sitting there, without fear of persecution, was an incredible feat in and of its self. All over the world, people are willing to die in order for others to be able to worship freely. 

          There's so much in my life that's been handed to me. And I take it all without a single thought as to how I got it. Whether it be my freedom to report what is actually going on in the world in the paper, or my right to a good education, or even the fact that I have a roof over my head and food in my stomach every night, there's no doubt that my life would be drastically different from how it is now if I didn't live in the good old USA. I am so thankful to all of the men and women both in the past and present who have put their lives on the line so that I can live mine to the fullest extent. 

          I hope you all remember that cliché saying, "freedom doesn't come free," and say a little prayer for those who have given their lives for our country as well as the loved one they left behind. Pray that God will keep our troops out there fighting for other's freedom safe and home soon. And most important of all, pray for the people out there who are still stuck in oppression, poverty, political corruption, famine, religious persecution, and genocide. 

          I hope you had a wonderful (and somewhat dry) 4th of July! Happy Independence Day!