Mobile journalism in Greektown.

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Tonight (or last night since it is now 1am?) I got my first true taste of being a mobile journalist. As soon as my “regularly scheduled programming” was interrupted by the announcement of Osama Bin Laden’s death, my quiet evening watching Brothers and Sisters was brought to a sudden halt.

I live in a house in the middle of the University of Missouri’s Greektown. “Noise” is a nightly routine. But tonight’s noise was unmistakable – it was the sound of celebration (and as I type it is still going on thanks to caffeine and a great sound system). An estimated 2,000-plus students took to Greektown’s streets to celebrate and show their patriotism. Between loud/out-of-tune renditions of the National Anthem, repetitive “U-S-A” chants, and contraband fireworks, the scene was pretty show-stopping. 

Carrying my ONA club card.

I needed this print last week, it was a bit hectic to say the least.

Wow, talk about neglect. Last week this blog saw absolutly no love from me. But I have a good reason…

Earlier this semester some nerdy friends and I took on the task of starting a new club at the #bestjschoolever (aka the University of Missouri School of Journalism – checkout the hash tag on twitter for some wit, cynicism, and sarcasm sometime). We organized the Online News Association Mizzou club.

As a team, we came up with some pretty impressive results. Check out this value statement; “We believe that the Internet is the most powerful communications medium to arise since the dawn of television. As digital delivery systems become the primary source of news for a growing segment of the world’s population, it presents complex challenges and opportunities for journalists as well as the news audience.” Clearly we are taking our club and our profession very seriously. Plus we’ve invested substantial time on Twitter and Facebook (ahemm, it is all in the name of ONA Mizzou, not procrastination or Facebook stalking) to promote, connect and brand our club. 

Biting the hand that feeds you.

oogling my name gives me a mix of anticipation and anxiety. First to pop up are the things I want; work from my internships, publications I have been quoted in, different Mizzou links and sometimes even this blog. But next on the list (and we are still talking Google page one here) are those things that will always follow me around.

For example, to get extra credit (which I am sure I didn’t need) in my 8th grade English class we could submit our own original works of “poetry” to writing contests. Winners were then published online. Everyone must have been a winner, because there is no way my work was worthy of so many “awards.” My sonnet (aka a group of words that claimed iambic pentameter) about running will never go away. The only thing brag-worthy about this piece of writing is it proves I was already really good at BS in 8th grade – I like to work out but running long distance bores me to tears, however according to this poem it is the “greatest feeling in the world.” Little Amanda knew how to lie. And now big Amanda doesn’t know how to escape this poem.

There is a point to this rambling; Google has a long memory.

Tap, Tap, Tap…

That's me in the gray strapped sandals!

What do hooded figures, oaths of secrecy and Jesse Hall have in common? Tap Day 2010.

I love secrets. It’s true. I think it is the narcissistic side of me coming out. I simply like knowing what other people don’t know and, more importantly, I like knowing what they want to know. So, when I learned about Tap Day as a freshman at MU, naturally I became slightly obsessed with the idea of one day getting to be tapped.

So how about I explain a little more about Tap Day for those of you who didn’t get sucked in with this Mizzou tradition. Tap Day is an annual spring ceremony in which the identities of the members of the six secret honor societies are revealed. The participating societies are QEBH, Mystical Seven, LSV, Omicron Delta Kappa, Mortar Board, and the Rollins Society. The ceremony, first held in 1927, takes place at the base of the Columns on Francis Quadrangle. At the Quad, the members of the societies are arranged by society groups and dress in hooded robes. As each society is revealed, a current member of the society “de-hoods” the new member and the new member is presented to the crowd, making their clandestine membership public information.

Each society functions primarily in secret – selecting new members, performing service, and meeting it’s own long-established individual goals. This secrecy gives Tap Day a special element that only a long-running tradition with a strong past can have. Most of the notable alumni of Mizzou have at one time or another been members of one of the Tap Day societies and even MU Dead Brady Deaton wears the robe of the group he is a part of during the ceremony.

So, clearly, you can see why a person who loves secrets would love Tap Day. Lucky for me, a secret society, Omicron Delta Kappa, thought I would be a worthy new member.

I was so honored to be a part of Tap Day. The experience is truly humbling and rewarding. The accomplishments of the people who were revealed simply made me exhausted just to listen to. In a course of an hour I got to watch as future politicians, scientists, teachers, and business leaders paraded across a stage. The people revealed have all made such a mark on campus and in the community that to just be considered as a member of their tap class is such an honor to me.

As much as I would love to tell you all about ODK and more about my Tap experience, I can’t. Because that’s the thing about secrets – they can only be secrets if they are kept and I never said I was one to know-and-tell…