Christian Sheckler's Page

I don't buy a lot of imported British merchandise, so I never knew the cost of shipping for transatlantic purchases. Nor had I fully realized the exchange-rate between the British pound and the US dollar. A couple weeks ago, my brother bought a Radiohead tee-shirt from the band's online store (based in England of course). That brought home the relative worthlessness of the USD, as the shirt's 15-pound British price tag translated to about 30 USD. Last week, I pre-ordered the May 5 issue of… Continue

In my last post, I expressed my desire to get out in the real world and find real stories. Recently I'd begun to doubt if other journalism students shared my aspirations. Then I met Drew. When Drew showed up at random on the Grace campus, I assumed he was a prospective student or a friend of a friend. Later I learned that he is a Canadian university student hitchhiking across the U.S. before going back to school in the fall. Like myself, Drew is majoring in journalism. Makes sense. Journali… Continue

I'm in journalism because I like to write and I love a good story. Good stories are all over the place -- too bad school makes it tough to get out and find them. I mean, I'm learning great stuff in class. But if I spend lots of time on assignments, I feel like I'm missing out on the real stories -- the kind that happen in the real world. So I have to choose. And given the choice between real stories and class assignments, I'd choose...real stories. Like Sean Blanda says in his post… Continue

Why do some people like to use big words? Well, it's probably because they think big words say "I'm smart. Don't believe me? Just listen to the big words I say." It's funny to note, then, that some very small words can garner the respect of one's peers. Like the word "garner." Is anybody impressed with me for using it? If so, it's not for the word's length. After all, the word is only six letters long. I believe that it's the infrequency of a word's usage that makes it impressive. Here's an e… Continue

At the moment, I'm sitting in a coffee shop. I've been here for almost three hours. I just finished my mocha with caramel, and I had to plug my laptop charger into the wall because my trusty computer is about to run out of juice. I'm spending the day in the coffee shop with my laptop because I have a story to write, and my deadline is lurking around the corner. Needless to say (but as always I'll say it anyway), I'm pretty stressed. The thought occurs to me: I want to do this for the rest of… Continue