"Is that a question, Jack?"

"Then it's time."
- Jacob

McGruff

Isn't this dog just cool?

Over the Water

An orchestral piece inspired by a cruise I went on with my band in High School; still a work in progress, and some day when I have the time in college to actually write music, I'll come back to this, fill in all the holes, expand several of the motives, add many bits and pieces, and in general finish this thing.

Over the Water.mp3

Excerpt from Believe - (orchestral)

Believe (Orchestral).mp3

Journalistic Integrity

It all begins with a student newspaper — The Pine Log — and just like any other student published newspaper, SFASU's manages to accumulate various grammar and punctuation errors, as well as gradually distance itself from the main or popular viewpoints of the surrounding culture. It's no surprise, however, considering that the students are... well... students too.
At the start of this spring semester, The Pine Log went through a sort of reformatting and revival [1]: new editors, new writers, new content, etc. At first, I was glad to hear our student paper planned to get more active and involved within our culture; honestly the various articles about book sales and handguns were getting tedious (wait a tick...) [2], but once the season kicked in, aspects of our paper actually got worse.
Who would ever want to pick up a newspaper and be attacked by the writers, therein? No one, I'd hope. But that's exactly what you'll find when opening up any issue of The Pine Log, more particularly the Opinions page. Our lovely Opinions editor, Brian Feltch [3],[4] has taken it upon himself to publicly ridicule anything and everyone he finds to be in disagreeance with his own views or way of life. For example, the conclusion that the "Music Scene" in Nacogdoches is not only disappointing, but brought on by political "irresponsibility" from the general student body (invariably, anyone who reads the newspaper). Pardon me if I find this a tad insulting, being a Music Major and all. Imagine my shock to also realize that bands only perform in cities that provide the sale of alcohol after midnight... silly me thinking bands only did it for the money, publicity, ticket sales... [5]
But I digress, any article that you're likely to find in the opinions section of The Pine Log, I guarantee you, will be filled with scorn, resentment, and defamation towards either the subject addressed, or the readers who've decided to give the paper a thorough read through.

My grievance: I should be able to read my own student publication — a publication whose purpose is to serve me (and the public) by keeping me up-to-date with current events and other cultural goings-on — and not have to be verbally abused by an editor who views his audience as below his intelligence.
Journalistic integrity can go a long way; if you're incapable of giving proof or evidence to proposed claims, citing proper resources, and resort to abusing connections and opportunistic powers to lash back at a professor who voice an opinion on an editorial written in opposition to the Nacogdoches Police Department, then you have very little integrity and probably shouldn't serve the SFASU student body on our student newspaper.

1. Buy an Umbrella & a Pair of Reading Glasses (2007-01-25). ThePineLog.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-08
2. Are Textbooks too Expensive?, Texas Legislature settles debate over 'traveling' handguns (2007-03-08). ThePineLog.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-08.
3. articles by Brian Feltch. ThePineLog.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-08.
4. Brian Feltch. Facebook.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-08
5. Vote for a better music scene (2007-03-01). ThePineLog.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-08.