A Review of My "Year of Application"

In a practice that--thanks to our ever-increasing reliance on electronic devices--is becoming less frequent, humans switch out their calendars in the annual event of "ringing out the old and ringing in the new" around this time of year. It serves as an opportunity of reflection, introspection and resolve to guide us along our paths in the new year. While I have no wall hanging to change out, I do have this blog to browse through for that same purpose. According to my first post for the year that just ended, 2014 was supposed to be my "year of application" and to spread my journalistic "wings" and, except for the tailing off near the end, I think I can claim success.

In that submission, I talked optimistically about using the skills I acquired through my then-recent completion of my Certificate of Journalism from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in the lead-up to being laid off from a job that I held for a little over five years (that was alluded to as a "year of transition").  I initially established a schedule that I would follow for my posting of new content onto this site that was slowly cast aside based upon wavering levels of interest as well as opportunities taken (and ignored) throughout that 12-month period.

Here's a breakdown of my 52 posts last year:

BTS: The Tale of Two Rallies

Same location...same incident...two vastly different events.

It's been a little more than a week since I drove away from Beavercreek's Fairfield Crossing shopping center parking lot and the second of two rallies that was held at its Walmart Superstore, the site of the August 5th shooting of John Crawford III by that city's police department. I made a point of attending both events because I wanted to play the part of an objective reporter but it was extremely hard to equate two things that were almost completely opposite in their scope and purpose.

A/V: Rally Organizers Call for Release of Store Surveillance Tapes

Several hundred people gathered on Saturday afternoon within sight of the Beavercreek, Ohio Walmart store where John Crawford III was shot and killed by a city police officer on August 5th.

On a very warm Ohio afternoon, approximately 200 to 300 people assembled in Beavercreek, Ohio to attend the Justice For John Crawford Protest and Rally in support of the family of the 21-year old Cincinnati-area man gunned down by police officers at that city's Walmart store earlier this month. Organized by the Greater Cincinnati Chapter of the National Action Network, or GCCNAN, the peaceful protest featured one dozen speakers demanding Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine release surveillance video footage of that shooting that was captured by several of the store's 200 security cameras. On Friday, DeWine stated that such a release would not happen prior to any grand jury-mandated court actions because that evidence could influence potential jurors.