Chapter 2, The Article
Summary: This is chapter 2 of The Reunion of Tommy and Silvia. In this chapter, I will be presenting you all, the article that Silvia wrote on Tommy for her Writing and Reporting the News I class in the spring of 2034.
Author's Notes: I should point out that just like when I had to do the real assignment, I had to interview and quote from three other sources, Silvia had to do the same, hince, why she asked Tommy some questions about friends he had on campus, and about his newspaper editor, to give her some other people to interview. So obviously, there will be quotes from some of her other sources, but figured I'd spare you all the interviews, and cut to the chase with the article, as the most important interview was presented in chapter 1, which was the first time Tommy and Silvia spoke to one another, after not speaking to one another for nearly seven years at this point. And so, let's get on with it, as I bring you, chapter 2!
Silvia Weller
ENG 239, Writing and Reporting the News I with Jane Augustine
A Proud Staff Writer FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A young teenage boy feels his way through a dark cave, in search of a treasure, that will save Neverland, and make this young boy, a hero, but along with every adventure, comes obsticals. The boy fell through a whole, and lost his cane, leaving him with no means of guiding his way through the cave. He found the treasure though, but at this point, his partner who had ventured into the cave with him, had been hurt by a tumbling rock slide, causing her to be knocked unconscious.
The boy found the treasure, but now, he had to find his way out of the cave with the treasure in hand, and seek help for his unconscious friend. So using the power of echo location, where one uses sound to locate their surroundings, by listening to it bounce off of surrounding objects, this young boy clicked his teeth together, and listened to where the sound bunced off of, helping him to find his way out of the cave. He eventually found his way out of the cave, saving both, Neverland, and his friend.
This bold adventurer is none other than Tommy Pickles. A 22-year-old Junior at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), majoring in English/Communications, with a concentration in Journalism. Pickles is also blind, as a result of being severely injured in a skateboarding accident during his tenth grade year in high school, and, he is a Staff Writer for the Beacon, the student run newspaper at MCLA.
"I am a staff writer. I get one article each week and have from Sunday to Sunday to get it completed," he said. This is true, staff writers do get an assignment each Sunday and have that week to attend events, conduct interviews, and do the necessary research required to get the job done.
Pickles is no exception. In his time as a staff writer, he has covered many topics, from attending a meeting about the cricest that's going on in Japan, and how complex the relationship between Tyland and China is, to interviewing the people at MCLA Tech Support about Pop and SMTP services, the new email system that will soon be replacing the current Office 365 system, used by all MCLA fackelty and students.
"I love the fact that I get to write and talk to people, and I get to learn about things that I never thought I'd learn about," Pickles said. "To me, writing for the Beacon is like a new adventure!" According to their official website, the Beacon strives to provide timely and accurate news of campus and local events. It is located in Room 109 in Mark Hopkins Hall on the MCLA campus.
Currently, the Beacon consists of eight members on their Editorial Board, 11 Staff Writers, four photographers, four members make up the Design Team, three copy editors, and one advertiser. The paper is funded by the Student Government Association, the English-Communications department, and ad revenues, and is released every Thursday during the accodemic year to the MCLA college community for free.
"I attended Jane Augustine's "Issues in Journalism" class with Tommy last semester, and I was impressed by his curiosity and positive attitude," said Gordon Carvell. Senior editor of the Beacon, and a Senior at MCLA majoring in English/Communications with a concentration in Journalism. "He asked me if I recommended working at the Beacon, and I told him he should go for it, it's been an experience like nothing else."
"He's out-spoken and friendly, which makes him easy to talk to, all of which are great personality traits for a reporter," Carvell said. "Tommy's greatest strength is communication, he's kept in contact with me, and asked many important questions about every story he's been assigned."
"Although Tommy's sight is gone, he makes up for it with his intense desire to understand and relate the important details of any story he is covering," Carvell said. "Whether Tommy works as a reporter, or decides on another career, I have no doubt he'll find happiness and fullfillment in his life."
Tommy is living proof that no obsticals will stand in the way of living his dreams. "No, thanks to adaptive technology like Voice Over, Job Access with Speech (JAWS), and Microsoft Wordd, I am able to write my articles for the Beacon," he said. "Thanks to interviews, I have no trouble getting the information that I need to write my articles for the paper."
According to an article in the Harvard Journal of Medicine, the eyes can be removed from a person for several reasons, ranging from rare eye cancers like Retinoblastoma, to serious damage caused when pressure is forced upon the head, crushing the eyes, damaging them. The eyes will more likely than not, cause pain for the patient, and they will fail to function properly, thus, doctors find it is better for the eyes to be removed, and to be replaced with special glass artificial eyes, that only have to be removed every once in a while, for a proper cleaning.
While Tommy Pickles is a Staff Writer for the Beacon, he also has a love for adventure and film, and is quite popular around the MCLA campus. "Tommy is a very kind kid with a big heart," said Trevor Mozique. A Junior at MCLA double majoring in Computer Science and Mathamatics. "I always see him around campus engaging in conversation with all sorts of people."
"Tommy is a great individual he is well adversed in making films with the help of his sighted peers and academics," said Chuck Finster. A Senior at MCLA majoring in Psychology, and Tommy's roommate. "I've known the guy my entire life, and he won't let anything stand in his way."
"I play various roles in the films we create, and in recent years, I've helped with shooting his expiditions, since he went blind," Finster continued. "I practically know all the locations he ventures to as well as he does."
"I've had a love for adventure as long as I can remember," Pickles said. "I've done everything from going into the next yard to get my ball back, to traveling through the streets of Paris in a Reptar robot, and under covering the curse of Camp Everwood, and those all happened before my accident, and while this is true, I don't wish to completely lose sight of my life in the sighted world, and if you just sit around and pick dandelions, you'll get nowhere."
"Tommy is also an extremely talented film maker, a great writer, and a great friend," said Ashley Nickles, a Freshman at MCLA double majoring in Elementary Education and English, with a concentration in Creative Writing. "Tommy and I hang out pretty often."
"We play dice games one or two times a week, and we also have a little "film" thing with our other friend, Trevor," she aded. "Tommy is our director, I play various parts in the short films we put together when we have spare time on the weekends, and Trevor is our co-director and camera person, since Tommy can't see to film, but once Trevor tells him of the lay of the land, he can get a good idea of what he wants done, , and we have scripting and casting sessions on occasion in the town house laundry room or the Greylock Room."
The Beacon is also on some of today's most popular social online networks. Their Facebook page, currently features 761,000 likes, and their Twitter page, started on June 1, 2011, currently has 181,000 followers.
And this, ends the article that Silvia wrote about Tommy, and chapter 2. Stay tuned though, as chapter 3 will continue on with Tommy and Silvia's relationship, as we see where it goes post the interview and the release of Silvia's article, which she did get published in the Beacon near the end of the 2034 spring semester.
Author's Notes: I should point out that I had to go off my research I did on the Beacon in 2014, but seeing that I bet ya by the year 2034, they will have several more likes on their Facebook page and followers of their Twitter, I decided to be ambiguous, and embellish a bit, having them go up to over a thousand likes and followers, over the next twenty years. And as for how many members are on staff, figured I'd leave that alone, as that's plenty of members for a newspaper, thus, it's likely to not change much between 2014 when I wrote the real article on Alex, and in 2034, when Silvia's article was released in fan fiction land. Hope you enjoyed her article, and, chapter 3 will be up shortly.