NewsHounds F09—In Their Own Words

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Editor’s Note: Below are the self-interviews submitted during Week1 by your fellow NewsHounds. Only four of you managed to get this done. I’ll add the rest of you when you catch up. —TP

Michelle Spencer: Goddess, Online Editor, Biologist....
Woman finds humor in her eight-year quest to obtain degree

“Laughter! Nothing more would suffice. If I am not laughing, then my only other alternative would be tears. I live in the tradition of No Fear t-shirt slogans: ‘Failure is not an option!’” stated Michelle Spencer, a self proclaimed sufferer of ADHD.

“I can truly say that I am not sure what I will be when I grow up. Oh wait…I am grown up! What do you think that says about me?”

Spencer, a 30-something domestic goddess, editor and publisher, has been feverishly working on and off on her four-year bachelor’s degree for nearly nine years now. While she has always been a lover of the world of academia, she moved from her family home when she was only 17. At that tender age she used her knowledge of knowing more than her parents and joined the masses that make up blue-collar America.

Not long after her foray into the working world, she became intrigued by a hairy legged little boy whom she decided to call her own and they were quickly married.

At year six of Spencer’s marriage, she made the life-altering decision to go back to school and get her college education. School was a world she had always loved because she felt she was able to immerse herself in subjects thus far unknown to her.

“I have always excelled at school without much effort and when my second child came along, I felt my brain turning into the overripe, gooey, glop that I was feeding my newborn,” she said. “I was worried, I needed something more stimulating than a stupid purple dinosaur.”

Thus began Spencer’s journey of self-discovery. While originally her major was Biology with a pre-med emphasis, it wasn’t long before she found her ADHD taking over and her thoughts and desires wandering in not just one different direction but several.

Finding stability in a working environment was also difficult for her because she was so unsure of what she really had a desire to do which caused her to stumble through several different jobs. Finally about two years ago, she discovered a love of writing.

“I have always been an avid reader,” she said. “In fact, it is not uncommon for me to read anywhere from 20-40 books per year, and that doesn’t include the ones I listen to on CD. So when this magazine idea came up, I ran like the mad woman I am with it. Now I just call myself crazy busy to anyone who asks because it seems like I am constantly on the go.”

Finally entering into her senior year in college, Spencer has attended four different universities, passed a myriad of classes and feels like she is no closer to finishing up her degree then she was the day she started. She feels that she will just keep on pushing forward in the hopes that one day she will figure out what she wants to do when she grows up.

Spencer currently enjoys publishing and editing a regional magazine that she started, as well being the self-proclaimed domestic goddess, that is until she changes her mind as to what she wants to do tomorrow.

Editor’s Note: Michelle is too modest. Click here to check out her online magazine, The Edge, which she produces out of the Uintah Basin.

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Katie Moore: And Bunny Makes 3 . . .

Katie Hancock (maiden name Moore), a senior at Utah State University, just got married three months ago and says she enjoys married life. “I don’t know how I lived without my husband,” she said.

She met Brett Hancock a year ago last May while working at her summer job at Iboats.com, a boating website, as a Customer Service Representative. Brett sat at the desk directly behind her. “It was love at first sight,” Moore (now Hancock) says.

A couple of weeks of flirting and her playing hard-to -get (he asked her out every night for two weeks and she came up with excuse after excuse), she finally agreed to hang out with him. They made out for three hours that night and since then have been inseperable (SP*!).

Brett proposed a week after Valentine’s Day at the Logan Temple. They were married May 19, a year to the day after they met, and then spent every penny they had on a 10-day Florida honeymoon.

They now live in a very cheap apartment in Logan and love it. They bought a baby bunny, named it Thumper and he loves being a part of the family.

Life is good for this family of three. Just working, going to school, and loving life.

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Wife’s Ultimatum: Stop goofing off! Back to school, Jesse!

Jesse Dredge, a public relations student at Utah State University, re-enters the throngs of aspiring young men and women in their quest for self betterment. He sits sullenly looking towards Logan Canyon from a campus benc,h imagining what lies there undiscovered.

Being pressured by his wife to once again traverse the precipice of academia, he finds himself forcibly optimistic in order to save his beloved past-times (SP*!!).

“Well, after the ultimatum of school or my caving and canyoneering ropes, I had no choice but to register for another year,” he said.

Dredge is returning to school after a one-year absence, having spent much of the last year in training for the U.S. Army. A Spanish linguist and intelligence collector for the Utah Army National Guard, he has enjoyed travels to Guatemala and Honduras, acting as both a Latter-day Saint missionary and as an Army linguist.

Happily married, Dredge shares with his wife, Debra, hobbies of caving, marathon training and backpacking. But his wife has come to the conclusion that the active pursuit of such hobbies should not distract from goals of higher education.

“These activities are fun, but they do not provide the resources necessary for progress in today’s world,” Debra said in a statement issued in response to a one of Jesse’s attempts to schedule several backpacking trips during days that would conflict with the Fall semester.

Debra accepted her victory as Jesse registered for classes. However, Jesse vows that his past-times have not been forgotten and promises to find time for them also.

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Lemme Outta Here! Student wishes he were somewhere else

A student at Utah State University expressed his anxiety as he begins yet another school year. He has been going to USU for about two years now and still hasn’t developed a desire to continue his education.

“I thought that after a couple of years I would begin to enjoy going to school, but it’s year two now and I still have anxiety as soon as I see the town of Logan filling up with students," said Tyson Ballard, a Smithfield native.

Like many students across the nation, Ballard’s anxiety comes from not knowing the future.

“During these economic times I don’t know if it is even worth wasting my time in school,” he said. “Who knows if the economy will ever recover from this. I might have a four-year degree, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be a bum on the streets.”

Ballard said he will continue his education, and hopes that he can get through yet another school year at USU. He also hopes that one day he will find a job that will prevent him from being a bum.

Editor: So what’s wrong with bums???
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