Nathan was a member of the Project Oxford photo team and he wrote:
Barb Urel has been in Oxford since the 1960's and has a wealth of knowledge about our town.
Lawrence Gallegos, who runs SDS Pizza, has seen Oxford both as a student and permanent Oxford resident.
I am currently a senior at Miami University. I am studying English/journalism with an emphasis on the business side of things. I am anxiously waiting for graduation on May 3, mainly because I want to be sure that this is real and not just a practical joke played by the university that keeps me around for another year. I don’t want to graduate because I don’t like Oxford or the people, but mainly because going to class has become something that maybe I have grown out of. I am very excited to be dropped into the big bad "real" world, and, yes, I know how horrible everyone says it is compared to college. I am just ready to use the skills I have developed over my 22 years of existence to succeed in the "real" world. I aspire to work as hard as I possibly can to give myself a good life, and later on down the line give that good life to a wife and some children.
Until then, I hope to make the most of my last few weeks of school. Currently, when not writing the stories posted on this Web site, I have been working with my friends to compile and accomplish a "list of things we want to do before we graduate." There are so many nuances to this small town that I will miss when I leave. So, for those of you reading who are from the area, I hope we did you justice. I’ve learned a lot more about Oxford through this project and hope that you do too. Enjoy!
By Cayte Howard
In my last four years at Miami, I have learned how to think…
critically. They actually fulfilled their mission statement. This
institution that we will all depart from with mixed feelings of love
and hate, has blessed me with the ability -- and curse -- of reason.
I question everything, often to the detriment of my victims.
Fortunately, journalism found its way into my life during the latter
semester of my junior year. In this creative venue I have found a
way to give my questions a constructive target. Journalism allows me to
investigate. Psychology, my second major, allows me to interpret and
analyze the answers. I love people, I love stories, and I love writing.
The civic journalism practiced in Project Oxford allowed me to
reach a deeper level of intimacy with my stories’ subjects than any
assignments I’ve completed to date. This kind of reporting is not
only exciting, challenging, and time consuming… It is rewarding.
My home away from home is in Cincinnati where I recharge myself
with the help of my dad, stepmother, step brother, and two brothers.
Pending my intended graduation in May, I will be attending John Marshall
Law School in Chicago.
Sports and music are two main pastimes and in addition to looking for a job Justin looks forward to attending baseball games and following the local music scene upon returning to Chicago.
Justin grew up in Western Springs, a northwest suburb of Chicago and hopes to eventually return to the same area later on in life.
In her time spent at Miami, Valerie has dabbled in many different activities including a stint as a DJ for Miami Student Radio (WMSR) with a show that aired from 2 to 5 a.m. She was also a broomball aficionado until one unfortunate incident, and is currently a reporter for the Miami Student. Valerie now serves as the undergraduate assistant for Cheryl Heckler’s ENG211 class.
Valerie initially hopes to obtain a position with a non-profit organization, and perhaps return to graduate school to receive her teacher’s certification later on.
Originally from North Royalton, Ohio, Valerie spent her four years at Miami gathering a lot of experience and good friends. She is eagerly awaiting her upcoming graduation in May 2003.
No one will fear talking: not the boy in the back with his "Social Distortion" shirt, or the girl in the front who chews obsessively on her fountain pen. The class will be a community of one, as their minds may not share all of the same beliefs but the beats of their hearts will be in perfect rhythm. After all we are all just human.
I don’t want to lecture. I don’t to talk down to. I merely want to teach about literature, but more importantly about life. As everyone knows, life isn’t easy and it helps everyone to know that there is someone else out there who knows what you’re going through.
We need as teachers to teach higher education, but more importantly about life. That’s what we’re preparing students for aren’t we. My name is Matt Lipman and I will be a professor someday.
Matt was a member of the Project Oxford photo team
and he wrote:
Take an intimate look at one of the secrets of Oxford -- the Oxford Bowling Lanes -- through the perspective of four young men in a fraternity bowling league.
Judy Thompson shares her views as a parent of a veteran of the first Gulf War.
These days Scott Mason looks forward to using his Miami degree to, "Make lots and lots of money in a golf-intensive job. But not the PGA, I mean the kind of job where you schmooze with clients."
I often gaze at the stars in the sky and at puddles on rain-soaked streets and wonder, "Who am I?"
The question of all questions.
I am 6’1", dirty-blond male, who loves water sports, especially sailing. I’m continually searching for the ultimate high, whether it is a sunset or an orange mocha frappuccino.
My wonderful journey began on October 9, 1981, at Huntington Hospital. I was born and raised in Huntington, New York, until I left for a farm-surrounded college in Ohio, Miami University, where I majored in English/journalism and minored in sociology.
Growing up on the north shore of Long Island, I was allowed a mystical play land that any adventurous child would enjoy. I built tree forts with my older brother, Brian, and played many sports, including Lacrosse and Ice Hockey, with my friends.
I was afforded an excellent high school education at the only all-boys Catholic high school on Long Island, Chaminade, in Mineola, New York.
I’m currently looking forward to earning my master’s degree in journalism/public relations at Ball State University Graduate School, where I’ll be enrolling in Fall ‘03.
Dallas’s hobbies include what he terms "Internet anthropology"—the study of the emergent online culture—as well as racquetball and debate. A student associate at Miami Computer Information Services' Support Desk, he is occasionally called a "computer genius" by those who severely overestimate his talents; what's certain is that he's fully developed the love/hate relationship most geeks share with their hardware.
Like all amateur writers, he has a bunch of really, really good ideas for novels.
Alex Parker is a senior journalism student at Miami University. Hailing from Kansas City, MO, Alex is excited about seeing the class’s work published on the web. As graduation looms over his head like a dark cloud, Alex ponders his future. He hopes to eventually move to Chicago to work in public relations. The current job search is yielding very poor results, thus impeding him from being gainfully employed.
In the event that employment is not found within the coming weeks,
Alex may venture across the pond, to England, where he plans to live
and work in London. A member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity,
Alex is glad to have had his experience at Miami University and looks
forward to receiving his degree.
Karen was a copy editor for Project Oxford, and she wrote:
Mac and Joe’s has been a
local hot spot for generations.
Don Thomas, co-owner of
Triad, a local building design company, hasworked to build his dreams
and business from the ground up.
Karen Puckett is an English/journalism major at Miami University. She is originally from scenic Middletown, Ohio, where she lived for 19 years before moving to Oxford.
Throughout her education, Puckett has been active in the profession. She has held internships with The Middletown Journal, as well as the Cincinnati Enquirer. She also worked as a stringer for the former High Street Journal in Oxford, and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
After graduation, Puckett will be moving to the Cincinnati area to pursue a short-lived career in bartending, while searching for the elusive "real job."
As a graduating senior this project is meant to tie together the experiences that I have had in journalism at Miami, although in the end it has been a totally new experience. This project has allowed me to go beyond traditional journalism and get to know a part of the Oxford community in a more personal way.
This fall I will be pursuing graduate studies in secondary education, therefore, I chose Talawanda High School as the sector of the community that I would get to know better. The experience has done much to reaffirm my decision to train to work in a high school, and I will greatly miss the people I was fortunate enough to meet during this semester.
Michelle's Project Oxford stories are:
After four years outside of
a high school, going back was like stepping into the past.
Chelsea Martens is a Talawanda
High School student who speaks out for what she thinks is right.
Talawanda High School secretary, Linda Gleason, is one of the people who keep the place going.
Marty is the Project Oxford webmaster and he wrote:
Oxford Township Police Chief Wayne Hall has been there and done that, now he’s done with it.
By Marty Smith
I have always enjoyed the English language. Reading fits all the
clichés that surround it. It takes you to new worlds, immerses
you in foreign concepts, and expands boundaries. My own love of reading
began with Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and
the works of Dr. Seuss. I began my college career with aspirations
of becoming an engineer; those dreams soon fell to the wayside… I
thought back to what I missed. I found the answer on writing and subsequently
journalism.
Throughout my life I have always been heavily involved in sports
and music. I feel that keeping abreast of developments in both fields
is a necessity. Therefore I could easily see myself working in either
area.
Perhaps the only area that intrigues me more so that music or sports
is the internet in general. I find development of on-line content to
be fascinating, especially given the developments that have occurred
in the past few years. The dot-com explosion and subsequent bust may
be past, but online content is a surface that is just getting
scratched.
When I sit back and give serious thought to what it means to be a journalist, one word echoes through the caverns of my mind: questions.
Not only are questions a very basic and crucial element of the reporting process, but they are the foundation and catalyst of our trade. Asking questions means more to a journalist than making a story interesting and provocative. Asking questions, especially difficult or dangerous questions, is the moral duty of journalists. The more questions we ask, and the deeper we look at societal issues, the greater the impact our trade will have on the civic, state, and federal infrastructures that shape our lives.
With this principle in mind, I began my involvement with Project Oxford in January 2003. In putting the civic life of Oxford under the microscope, I have held fast to my belief in questions and used this principle in all of my reporting. My involvement in Project Oxford has centered on the area’s politics, especially surrounding the Talawanda school district levy debate.
With this experience under my belt, I am looking ahead to career possibilities in political journalism, and beginning this summer, will start down that road with the South Carolina Democratic Party. I will be writing press releases for all state campaigns from the party’s Charleston headquarters. I plan to approach this task with the same mentality I have brought to Project Oxford and other journalistic ventures: question everything, or I’m not doing my job.
By Tara Ward
A great photographer once said, “Photography has nothing to do with what you see, but everything to do with the way you see it.”
Besides in my photography, I have tried to apply this philosophy to
journalism, and more importantly, life. And I believe this philosophy
is at the core of Project Oxford. This great team of journalists
and photographers took the everyday lives of Oxfordians and focused
on the small details that make these stories truly unique. I feel
Project Oxford is intimate journalism at its best!
My personal experience working on Project Oxford was wonderful. I
genuinely enjoyed learning the dynamics of Oxford – everything from
farming to schools to the bar scene. My beat, or area of focus, was
the uptown bar scene. I chose to interview the local musicians of
Oxford, Bill Bartlett and Jon Kogge. However, I mostly worked on
the photography for Project Oxford. Photojournalism is capable of
telling an entirely different story than journalism in print.
My ultimate goal in life is to one day work for National Geographic
as a photography field correspondent.
Hi there. My name is AnnieWhaley, I love dogs, pizza, singing really loud, and rock-n-glow bowling.
I’ve been studying journalism and creative writing at Miami for the past four years and will graduate this summer with an English degree; I’ve learned a lot about asking interview questions, the principles of media, writing short fiction, and how to critically think about novels and poetry.
BUT even more than all that academic stuff, I’ve learned how to
talk to people and be in friendships with them, helping people out, doing
whatever I can to care for them. That’s what I’m really passionate
about, and I’m pleased to gain such important insights from my four
years at Miami.
All of that said, I’m hoping to go to grad school at the University
of Cincinnati next year to earn my certification to teach high school
English – as well as to see movies at the Esquire Theatre, shop at
the Salvation Army, eat take-out Chinese food, and frequent karaoke
places. Education is important, but having fun is important too,
right?
Annie was a copy editor for Project Oxford and she
wrote:
High school students take on another subject: the love of God.
l
Robin was on the Web team for Project Oxford and she wrote:
The Oxford Women's Club has been serving the community for over 100 years. Its annual Spaghetti Dinner raises money for several charities and organizations, many of which benefit Oxford children.
Robin is from Cincinnati, Ohio, but she lived for six years in Germany as a child. While at Miami, she spent a semester studying at the Luxembourg campus and traveled all over Europe. Back in Oxford, Robin played in the marching band for four years, although she still doesn’t understand football. She is an active member of Kappa Kappa Psi, an honorary band service fraternity, and plays on its intramural hockey team. To pay the bills, Robin has worked as a waitress at Attractions and Mac and Joe's restaurants.